X Wing: Odyssey
by RowenaR
Summary: This is the story of Captain Coreena Mallan and Gray Squadron and their hunt for a deadly and twisted Imperial admiral.
1. Dramatis Personae

**X-Wing: Odyssey**

**Author:** Yay, l'il Rowena again!

**Summary:** This is the story of captain Coreena Mallan and Gray Squadron and their hunt for a deadly and twisted Imperial admiral.

**Category:** drama/romance

**Rating:** M due to dark themes and mentioning of rape, torture and violence in later chapters.

**A/N:** Please note that I'm a non-native-speaker so please just ignore any grammar or spelling mistakes. As for plot, characters and style: Every advice is appreciated and will be taken seriously as long as it isn't meant just to flame me. And as to the part below: The dramatis personae is dynamic, meaning it could change every few chapters or so, depending on the grade of plot bunnies pestering me so just take a look here, too, when the story is upgraded.

**Feedback will earn you a cookie (and flames will roast my marshmellows)!**

**Disclaimer:** Oh, almost forgot this. But… what the heck… here we go… Star Wars, The X-Wings, Y-Wings and other fighters I used or will use, the _Liberty _and the Imperial standart ships, Telsij Cayr and general Dodonna belong to the Flanneld One, I just like to play with them a little and don't want to make any money out of them (although I could use it… ). As for the other characters, they are mine, and I would greatly appreciate it if anyone wanting to use them (which I greatly doubt, but nevertheless g) would ask me before doing it (especially if this someone wants to kill them! This I mean!) or before archiving this story. Thank you.

**Dramatis Personae**

**Gray Squadron**

Captain Coreena Mallan (human female from Alderaan), Gray Leader/One  
Lieutenant Marcus Lochlin (human male from Chandrila), Gray Two  
Flight Officer Deraani Kar'Esta (Devaronian female from Devaron), Gray Three  
Flight Officer Randy Krennel (human male from Commenor), Gray Four  
Flight Officer Jaris Banon (human male from Ord Mantell), Gray Five  
Flight Officer Kara "Kay" Kar'Esta (Devaronian female from Devaron), Gray Six  
Flight Officer Marten Blenwell (human male from Folor), Gray Seven  
Flight Officer Tyan "Tie" D'Ar (Bith male from Clak'dor VII), Gray Eight  
Flight Officer Pat Flann (human male from Carida), Gray Nine  
Flight Officer Nien Nunb (Sullustan male from Sullust), Gray Ten  
Flight Officer Kesra "Devil" Devlin (Rodian female from Rodia), Gray Eleven  
(Brevet) Lieutenant Saron Kenzy (human female from Corellia), Gray Twelve

**Biniir Blue Diamonds**

Commander Tom Rannan (human male from Corellia), Biniir Leader/OneLieutenant Marlin Rua (human female from Yag'Dhul), Biniir Two  
Flight Officer Correl Dars (human male from Carida), Biniir Three  
Flight Officer Kesan Mayn (human male from Commenor), Biniir Four  
Flight Officer Jake Harvey (human male from Prefsbelt), Biniir Five  
Flight Officer Craig Windrunner (human male from Tatooine), Biniir Six  
Flight Officer Reslin (Mon Calamari female from Mon Calamari), Biniir Seven  
Flight Officer Tuan Steva (human male from Toprawa), Biniir Eight  
Flight Officer Jay Roonin (human male from Dantooine), Biniir Nine  
Flight Officer Hersk Byo'Tyla (Bothan male from Bothawui), Biniir Ten

**Rebel Alliance Military Personal**

Captain Gatton Zifra (human male from Mrlsst), captain of the Nebulon-B-frigate _Liberty_  
General Jan Dodonna (human male from Coruscant), commander-in-chief of Rebel Alliance Starfighter Command  
Captain Nomo Morgan (human female from Prefsbelt), captain of the fighter carrier _Starfield_  
Commander "Growl" D'Jan (Shistavanen male from Uvena Prime), First Mate of the fighter carrier _Starfield_

**Prisoners of War (POW) aboard the _Predator_**

Flight Officer Telsij Cayr (human female from Thyferra), Blue Ten, Y-Wing pilot  
Private Ryana Whares (human female from Naboo), Hunter Four, commando soldier from Hunter Squadron  
Lieutenant Maresh R'siikhi (human female from Eriadu), Control officer aboard _Rebel Stand_  
Maintenance Technician First Class (MT1) Kat Deira (human female from Sluis Van), Red Squadron's main technician  
Councilor H'sishi Istr (Ishi Tip female from Sernpidal), Rebel Alliance Administration Corps  
Lieutenant Ganna Dsa'Ostra (Cath female from Cathar), Rebel Alliance Corps of Engineers  
Corporal Mijiyo Anasu (human female from Agamar), Seeker Six, Marine trooper, 3rd platoon, 5th company, troop carrier _Kalidor_

**Imperial Military Personal **

General Arvin Chesfer (human male from Bestine), commander of the IV. Imperial Battle Group  
Captain Desra Tellik (human male from Coruscant), captain of the _Predator_  
Surgeon Lieutenant Doctor Ilara Kardian (human female from Yaga Minor), chief medic officer aboard the _Predator, _Tellik's personal medic


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

**Nebulon-B-Frigate _Liberty_, briefing room**

"Ladies and gentleman, may I now introduce you to your new commander, Captain Coreena Mallan." Several of the room's male population moaned in protest, but general Jan Dodonna, recently in charge of the Rebel Alliance Starfighter Command, silenced them with a quick, scolding glance. Women may have been usual as technicians, control officers, even naval officers, but they were clearly new to commanding positions in Starfighter Command, even in the Rebellion.

Coreena looked at the squadron she had to take over from Garven "Dave" Dreis. From all she knew from the very few information she had gotten on her flight to the _Liberty_ Gray Squadron was a unit with a lot of rookies, recruits who had no or only few experience with the Incom T-65 X-Wing and there were only two other commissioned officers. One of them, the man, looked at her with a very high amount of suspicion in his eyes. _Speech time!_ she reminded herself and coughed. "Thank you, general." She nodded at Dodonna. "As the general already told you I am your new commander. I am here to take over for your old commander, Captain Dreis because – as all of you know – he himself will take over the command of some of our elite units, Red Flight. I am here to complete your training and – when we have reached full battle competence – lead you into combat. This means that we will hopefully grow to a real unit that will be feared be Imperial fighter pilots."

Some of the pilots in front of her let out subdued cheers or "Hear, hear"s. She allowed herself a little smile. They liked her speech style. _Good_. "And for this I think we have to get to know each other a little better, and that it's the best if I start with myself." Coreena scanned the pilots. None of them seemed to be really interested. _But what the heck…_ "I am 25 standard years old, my home world is Alderaan and I joined the Rebellion 3 years ago. I am proud to be one of the first women in the Rebel Alliance Armed Forces getting accepted into Starfighter Command." _And here they go again…_ The last sentence had been a mere test to see how most of all the male squadron members reacted. And of course it was the usual range. The male Lieutenant put his hand over his eyes and said something to the man beside him which made him smirk. Others sniggered or threw her… well… disapproving looks.

She let her gaze wander over the room and stopped at a pair to her left, a human male Flight Officer and a human female Lieutenant. They had been bickering when she and Dodonna had entered the room and until now they had done it several times, too. She would have to watch these two closer. If the bickering was the consequence of being a couple she would have to remind them of keeping their relationship discrete and if it was the result of having some personal feude it was even worse. _So much for being an unit…_She looked at her chrono. _Two minutes. Enough "commander bashing" for today._ "Could you please calm down again?" It was a rhetorical question and therefore everyone ignored it. _Great…_ "I said: Calm down, everyone!" she said with her recruits-proven "command voice" and it had its desired effect. In less then 5 seconds the room was as silent as a tomb. "Does anyone have questions until now?" She looked around. One big, heavy-built man raised his hand. "Yes, Mr…"

"_Flight Officer _Flann. When do we get the Cap back?" His comment was accompanied with sniggers and smirks from most of the male pilots. She coughed again. "I suppose you mean Captain Dreis, _Flight Officer_. And I don't think this question was very funny. Does anyone have a _real_ question?" She looked around again. No one raised a hand so she finally said: "Dismissed."  
**

* * *

Lt. Lochlin's and FlO. Banon's quarters**

Lieutenant Marcus Lochlin sank onto his bunk and starred at the bottom of the bunk above him. "So, what d'you think about that new commander?" his roommate, Flight Officer Jaris Banon, asked from above.

"Dunno… she's got a severe attitude problem… don't you think?" The light laughter from above was answer enough.

"Like we don't have a female with too much emancipation passion already." Both sighed at the thought of the squadron's second commissioned officer, Lieutenant Saron Kenzy. Nobody knew where she came from, what she had done before joining Gray Squadron and why she was already a Lieutenant although her flying skills – while quite good – lacked the experience such a rank normally proved. And apart from that she was a pain in the ass. There hadn't been one male in the squadron she hadn't had a severe fight with at least once. She thought of herself as a better snub fighter jockey than _any_ man and she used every little opportunity to try to prove it. To say she was over-ambitioned was an understatement.

After a moment of silence Banon jumped off his bed and got into his boots. "Patrol time again… see you later, huh?" Lochlin just nodded and continued starring at the bunk above him. Maybe that new commander was a little too high ambitioned about this whole emancipation thing but there was something on her that kept him thinking about her. Where Kenzy had short dark hair, rough edges and the almost painful cliché-like scar over her left cheek and wore everything as a kind of statement showing she didn't even want a man to think of her anything else than as a soldier Mallan wore her red-golden hair braided and almost hip-long, had not a flaw on her face and fascinating eyes – one blue and one green. Lochlin closed his eyes and was rewarded with a very vivid image of Commander Coreena Mallan wearing only… _Man, Lochlin, get a grip._ he scolded himself. Letting apart the fact that he didn't like women who were proud of being able to kill something and had a little too much attitude she was his commanding officer. Sighing he got up and decided to have a really cold shower.

**

* * *

**

**Capt. Mallan's quarters**

A nearly similar sigh escaped Coreena Mallan's mouth when she lay down her data pad for only one second and put her hands over her eyes. She _hated_ doing this but if she wanted to teach her squadron right she needed to know its members, where they came from, how much experience they had in flying, what other qualities and talents they had… Sighing another time she took the pad again and switched to the next file.

_Blenwell, Marten…born on Folor, lived a while on Corellia…member of Imperial Engineer Corpse for three years…flight experience with TIE-Fighters, Lambda-class shuttles, Y-Wings, X-Wings…_Now, _that_ was interesting… _promoted to Lieutenant, than charged for gross insubordination, put back to Flight Officer… promoted another time… being charged of smuggling… demoted again… great, a trouble-maker… three cheers for putting in that transfer request…_She closed the file and moved on with the next.

_Tyan D'Ar, Bith… graduated med school with a doctorate, worked at the military hospital on Bestine as a clerk… how could it have been any different with the Imperial Navy… joined the Rebel Alliance shortly after its foundation… first medical officer on the _Rebel Jewel_, transferred to Starfighter Command… no flying experience… hope he's the only one going to have to use the simulator quite a time… already assigned as squadron medic… well, apart from being a complete beginner that doesn't sound _that _bad… Who's next? _She moved to the next file. _Flann, Pat…_ She shook her head. For the next hour she tapped through every file until she put up the one labeled _Kenzy, Saron_. This one was the rockiest career she had ever seen in her time as a commanding officer, including her own. Corellia was stated as her birth planet but there was no entry at "home planet", but what was most interesting was what she had done before flying. The record said that she had begun her service with the Rebel Alliance as a recruit with the ground troops and had worked her way from there via private, corporal, lance corporal, sergeant… to finally Captain only to lose first her platoon in a commando mission to some force-forsaken Imperial base and then the rest of her company in an ambush of her troop carrier. She then joined Starfighter Command and was awarded the rang of brevet Lieutenant due to her excellent performance in her first two missions. From the fierce appearance of Kenzy at her picture and the personality description further down and Blenwell's record and personality description Coreena could now rule out the couple theory and be sure of the feud theory. _Oh no,_ two _trouble-makers…_ Why did she always get the wash-out or misfit squadrons?

In her head, she went over the records she read so far and ticked off the pilots on imaginary fingers. _An XO that obviously wanted to take over the squadron himself, two Devaronian sisters allergic to bacta, a just a little too over-ambitious Rodian, one ex-Yellow-Ace – luckily_ not _Wes Janson… - who seems to be force sensitive…two ex-Imperials, one of them an ex-_stormie _from_ Carida _… does luck ever cease… a squadron medic who needs a_ little _too much flying lessons… a son of an Imperial officer… wonder what daddy says to his new-found hobby… and last but not least an ex-trooper on the edge…_ She shook her head again. There was only one file left and she sent up an old Alderaanian prayer that this was just a normal kid who's only wish it was to kick some Imperial ass… _Nunb, Nien… born on Sullust… bla, bla, bla, yadda, yadda, yadda… exceptional talented pilot, earned ace-status after first mission, best candidate for the next promotion…_ She let out a small cheering sound. Well, _this_ was something she had hopped for… at least _one_ pilot who didn't need much training and was described as _quiet, pleasant and enthusiastic nonetheless_. At least one pilot that didn't belong to the lunatic fringe, had worked for the Empire or had some strange allergies. Coreena threw away the pad finally, sat back and propped up her feat on her little desk. _Maybe_, she thought, _I should suggest Nunb being promoted to Captain ASAP, let the squadron to him and put in a transfer to a nice little ground base where I could do some administration and…_ Before she could come to the end of the thought the alarm klaxons began to ring throughout the ship. Grunting with frustration she through up her arms and grabbed a pressure suit out of her closet.

**

* * *

**

**Fighter hangar**

"Attention! We are being attacked by a Lancer-class frigate. All personnel to their stations. This is _not_ a drill. I repeat, this is _not_ a drill!", Control's voice sounded over the ship and the clattering of hundreds of boots on the ships floor could be heard as soldiers, officers, pilots and technicians ran to theirs respective stations. It was a perfect organized chaos.

Lieutenant Saron Kenzy climbed up the ladder to her cockpit with a lizard monkey's speed and got the okay from her maintenance crew as soon as she got strapped in. Just as she was about to close her canopy and lift off the hangar's floor the _Liberty_ shook from a direct hit by her opponent and people all over the hangar fell or at least tumbled. A grim smile played over Kenzy's lips. _They will regret attacking us once I'm out there…_ It wasn't as if she was an arrogant and self-centered idiot, she just knew what she was capable of. Her R2-unit Wack whistled and hooped as they made their way out of the vacuum-shield and advanced the chaos out in space. TIE-fighters zoomed all over the place, laser beams raced past the X-Wing and excited comm-chatter filled the cockpit. This was where Saron felt at home, felt that she could repay that Imps what they had done to her. She switched to squadron battle frequency. "This is Twelve, how are we looking?"

Immediately Captain Mallan's voice answered: "Twelve, this is Leader, we got Two, Four, Five, Seven, Twelve, Eight, Nine, Ten and Three out here. I suppose you know about Six."

"Leader, Two, you have one on your tail!", Lochlin's voice cut in. Saron saw one eye-ball coming frontal at her and another grim smile appeared on her lips. _Head-to-head… way too good for you, you Imperial bastard._

"Twelve, give me cover while I finish this eyeball coming towards me." Gray Twelve, Kesra "Devil" Devlin, acknowledged and fell behind her. When the TIE opened fire on her Kenzy switched to quad-fire, waited until her crosshairs went green for just one second and pulled the trigger. The TIE exploded in a cloud of fire. A perfect shot. "Hey, good shooting, Twelve!", came Deraani Kar'Esta's voice over the comm.

"Thanks, Three…"

"Twelve, you've got one coming from 107.4! I'll finish him off…" That was so _typical_ of Devlin… The TIE-fighter was coming from an impossible angle and she just didn't see it in her haze to become the very best.

"Eleven, break off." Devlin didn't answer, just swooped towards the TIE-fighter. "I said _break off_. Did you hear me, Eleven? That was an _order_!" Devlin still didn't answer and headed towards the fighter. Obviously she didn't notice that now she was in the range of the _Hunter_'s laser-guns. In the squadron they said, Kenzy was the most ambitious pilot there had ever been but they hadn't experienced Devlin in battle yet. The woman was just so wrapped up in her wish to be the best she ignored all risks.

Kenzy sighed and hefted herself on the tail of her wing mate. As soon as there where two X-Wings they could shoot at, the laser batteries opened the fire. All of a sudden green beams filled Kenzy's vision and she grunted. In front of her Devlin's X-Wing did a desperate dance to escape the beams but after what seemed a surprising long time it got a hit in its right port wing. It began to whirl towards the frigate. "Eleven, is everything okay? Eleven, answer me!" Frantically Kenzy switched to the emergency frequency. "Eleven got hit and is making her way down to the frigate! Does anyone have her life stats? Can anyone…?" Mallan's voice came over the comm, clear and almost painfully calm. "Break off, Twelve, there is nothing you can do." Kenzy still tried to keep sight of Devlin's X-Wing while doing her best at escaping the laser beams of the _Hunter_, as her R2 had identified the frigate and placing some shots on the hull herself.

"But she still didn't make contact with the hull…"

"Didn't you listen, stupid, the commander ordered you out!" That was Blenwell. Typical, just so _typical_ he would call her in such a situation. As if he wasn't someone to disobey orders himself…

"To you, it's still _Lieutenant_ Stupid. And you don't have the right to tell me _any_thing…"

"_Cut the chatter, you two!_" Well, this woman certainly did have _some_ commanding skills. "And you, Twelve, get back to the squadron _ASAP_, we're leaving." Saron wished really hard that this was a safe frequency because she really didn't want to have _any_ Imperial ship at her tail.

"But…"

"Return to the squadron _now_, Twelve!" There was something in the Captain's voice one just couldn't ignore. Saron had never heard anything that _demanding_ in a voice before and grudgingly she obeyed and made a swoop back to the _Liberty_. Wack hooted and then the coordinates for their hyper jump appeared on her screen. "Jump on my mark." Mere seconds before Mallan gave the signal, Saron saw the canopy of Devlin's X-Wing flying away and something emerging at high speed from the cockpit. _She punched out! Devil's alive!_

"Leader… Twelve…"

"Gray Squadron, jump _now_!" Saron didn't pull into hyper space. Surprisingly Mallan had reflexes fast enough to realize it. "This was an _order_, Twelve! _Jump_!"

"No, Leader, didn't you see it? Twelve punched out! We have to get help!" In the same moment a Lambda-class shuttle cruised the place Saron had seen Devlin the last time. When the Captain ordered her to jump this time she obeyed with grim silence.


	3. Chapter Two

** Chapter Two**

**_Liberty_, fighter hangar**

After they had rendezvoused with _Liberty_ the fighters set down in the hangar. Almost immediately Coreena climbed out of her cockpit and jumped to the ground. After spotting Lieutenant Lochlin she gestured him to come over. While pulling off her helmet and gloves she walked beside him and gave him her orders in a curt voice. She was in no mood to be friendly or diplomatic. "I want your report in one hour from now. And not a minute later. Is this understood?"

"Captain…"

"Why does everyone think that I issue orders so they can be _discussed_? When I say "one hour", I _mean_ "one hour". I want every casualty, every wounded, every lost screw. Is that clear?" She could see the grudge coming up on his face but he hissed a "Yes, ma'am." through his teeth. She nodded. "Dismissed." Without any other word she pointed her index finger at Lieutenant Kenzy who was climbing off her X-Wing rather slowly. "In my office. Now." Kenzy opened her mouth to protest Coreena was sure of, but shut it after a quick side glance. Mallan was sure the Lieutenant had seen Lochlin shaking his head no. She chose to ignore it and instead began to jog to her office.

A few moments later she could hear another pair of boots clattering behind her. Without looking back she arrived at the little windowless clerk room they had given to her as an "office". She let her keycard slide through and the door slid open. After entering Mallan finally turned around and said to Kenzy: "I'd offer you to take a seat if there was one. " Kenzy, not knowing whether this was a joke or not chose to keep her face indifferent and somewhat defying. "Well…" Coreena leaned against a crate more or less at the height of her hip. "Lieutenant Kenzy… what in the force where you thinking back in the battle?" Her voice had a slight annoyed sound to it.

"Captain Mallan, I… I… she punched out for the force's sake! She was alive!" Kenzy blurted out. Coreena only shook her head.

"Lieutenant… I ordered you out and you still stayed… that could have cost both you _and_ me our lives. And it could cost you your brevet promotion. So why in all heavens shouldn't I just file a report, hand it to General Dodonna and get you demoted or even punished worse?" The Lieutenant grew annoyed herself. She had done nothing wrong, only had tried to save a fellow pilot.

"Captain, with all due respect… I think your order was wrong." That was mined terrain and she knew it. She could be out of Starfighter Command in the blink of an eye.

"No, it wasn't. It was as right as your order to Flight Officer Devlin to abort her attack on that TIE-Fighter. I'd be very happy if you could explain to me what made your order better than mine." Kenzy didn't like the calmness and almost arrogance with which Mallan addressed her.

"Ma'am… I… Flight Officer Devlin was the only person that came close to being a friend for me in this squadron. I didn't want to lose her." Mallan shook her head, This was getting her nowhere. Luckily for the other woman Kenzy obviously didn't know how close she was to being rejected at any moment.

"So you are telling me that not wanting to lose someone you know and like makes an order more important than just wanting not to lose a subordinate? Well… you may be surprised but I even understand this due to your personal record… I know how it feels to lose someone…"

"No, Captain, I think you don'tknow what it means to lose someone!" Coreena got off her crate and took a step towards Kenzy. The woman suddenly felt several inches smaller.

"Be careful of what you throw into your opposite's face, Lieutenant, be very, very careful. I will let this little incident be unreported because of the very few time we know each other but another one of these slips of tongue will get you out of this squadron. Understood?" Kenzy choked.

"Yes, ma'am." The Captain nodded.

"Good. So… what are we going to do about the _other_ incident?"

Kenzy shook her head and mumbled something like: "I really don't know, ma'am…"

"Well, I do. I will not report this, but I will add my share if an investigation is wanted by someone else. If nothing of this happens, you are lucky. And _nothing_ of this will ever happen again or you have to look for a new job. Is this understood?"

Kenzy snapped to attention and saluted. "Yes, ma'am." _She got something of her spirit back. Good. It would have been bad to lose that._

"Good. Dismissed." The Lieutenant spun on her heal and left the little room. Sighing Coreena covered her face with her hands. _If I wasn't only 25 I would say I'm getting too old for this…_

**

* * *

**

**Lt. Kenzy's quarters**

Muttering under her breath, Kenzy stopped by her quarters, got something clean to dress and her shower things and headed straight for the women's refreshers. Unfortunately she kept her head down and soon bumped into some broad human male body. Which started to shout immediately: "Can't you just look where you're walking, stupid?"

She threw Blenwell her patented rancor-look and hissed: "Shut up, idiot and leave me alone." He flashed her a nasty smile.

"Oh, a little short-tempered, are we? Did the Captain give you such a bad time?" She really didn't have the time for this nor was she in the mood for some banter game.

"I don't know about you but my temper's all in the green, now let me just pass." He threw his hands in the air and took an almost gallant step to the side.

"Now, who's keeping you here, m'lady? Pass and be happy ever after." Oh, how she hated that stupid, arrogant, obnoxious… ex-Imperial bastard.

"Leave me alone. Don't let me see you for another standard day at least." And off she swapped to the 'freshers.

**

* * *

**

**Lt. Lochlin's and FlO. Banon's quarters**

Marcus Lochlin hated that new Captain. Really, he hated her. And in this moment he hated all of these emancipated, pig-headed, just plain dump women all over the Alliance military giving men like him tasks like filing reports over some damn insignificant little battle somewhere in the Outer Rim. Well, to be fair, he hated _all_ commanding officers giving their subordinates tasks like this. And to be a little _more_ fairer he didn't _hate_ Coreena Mallan. He didn't even dislike her. He just… didn't know what he felt about her. "I mean it's not as if we even know each other, right?" he mumbled and got a "What'dyasay?" from a sleepy Jason Banon. "Nothin'." Marcus replied and continued starring at the data pad before him. So far he had filled in his name, rang and squadron in the mission report form. _You have done better, pal._ he scolded himself the hundredths time in nearly an hour. _Nearly an hour…_ "Damn!" The hour Mallan had given him for his report was almost up and he had absolutely _nothing_. "Will you just shut up an' lemme sleep?", Banon let out but Marcus didn't hear anything as he jumped up and got out of the room.

Running at nearly full speed he almost missed Mallan's quarters and skidded to a halt in front of her door. Hesitating he knocked and got a "Come in." just a second later. "Ma'am?" She looked up from some paper work.

"Yes, Lieutenant?" She looked so… expecting.

"I… I'm sorry to tell you that I didn't… erm…" What was coming over him? He never had been squirming like this when speaking to Dreis.

"You didn't what?"

"I… I… didn't… um… didn't get the report done, ma'am." This was ridiculous. He felt like a nine-year-old trying to tell his most feared teacher he hadn't done his homework the fifth time in a row.

"You didn't…? Well, I was expecting more of you after reading your performance reports. Would you be so nice to tell me what you did finish?", she asked smiling sweetly but he could feel that this was just the calm before the storm.

"Well, I…"

"Maybe if I could have a look?" He held the data pad reluctantly in her direction but just as she was about to take it she squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her hands to her temples as if some bad headache shook her.

"Captain? Captain, is everything okay with you?" She seemed to be unable to hear him and put her hands over her eyes.

"Something… big just died." Now her eyes were wide open again, looking like the ones of a wounded animal.

"How could you…?" She shook her head.

"Just don't ask. And don't tell anybody…" At this moment her comm beeped and she taped her terminal. General Dodonna's face appeared.

"This is General Dodonna to all fighter commanders and leading ship personnel. Meet up in the briefing room immediately. This is an emergency. Dodonna out." She got up.

"If you'll excuse me, Lieutenant?" Confused he nodded. "Of course, Captain…" She took her data pad and left the room. The last thing Marcus saw of her was her almost hip-long braided tell of red-golden hair swinging from side to side as she ran off to the briefing room.

**

* * *

**

**Lt. Kenzy's quarters**

When Saron came back to her quarters and her mood had finally changed from angered to calmed down she realized for this first time how _empty_ the tiny room was without Devlin who hadn't only been her wing-man – well, so to speak – but also her room-mate. Closing her eyes and leaning back on her bunk she thought back to the first time she had met the Rodian. They were flying a sim on the _Spirit of Chandrila_, the first ship she had been assigned to after joining Starfighter Command and the highly risky flying of Devlin had impressed her from the first time.

After being shot down because of Devlin's want to be the very best in the squadron and being let down because of it Saron's respect changed to dislike, though. And the antipathy even grew worse when she realized that she would have to share a quarter with the Rodian because the two of them were the only females on board the troop carrier. But after discovering the fact that despite the Rebels' ambitions to be the opposite of the Empire in their views on discrimination the Alliance fighter pilots were even worse than the commando soldiers when it came to females in their natural domain they had to form a grudging truce. In the two months they were trained on the _Spirit_ Saron and Devlin had eventually become something very close to friends.

She dared not to say the word "friends" even in her head because Saron had had to learn very early and the hard way that such thing didn't exist in the universe she knew. Having been let alone by her parents at the age of two, maybe three, on Corellia and then being raised to be a slave she had experienced no love in her childhood. At the age of 14 she escaped the slave trader and tried to make a life of her own in the lower boroughs of Coronet City. That time ended when she had a rather… unpleasant encounter with a storm trooper. Now not only the slave trader was chasing her but also the Empire. It was time to finally get off Corellia.

Sighing Saron opened her eyes again and starred at the ceiling hanging low above her. Once Kesra had asked her what her reason was to join the Alliance. "Because I finally feel at home.", she had answered. But did she really?

**

* * *

**

**Pilots lounge**

"I tell you, something big just happened." The pilots around him were either snorting, chuckling under their breath or throwing ironic remarks at him. One of the Kar'Esta sisters – Deraani, the older one he supposed – grinned at him showing her impressive teeth.

"Yeah, 'course. Like the Empire just blew up a planet or something." Marcus shook his head and put his hand over his eyes.

"No, listen, I'm serious. I was just giving her the report and then General Dodonna called. He wanted all the squadrons' commanders and the stations' officers to come to the briefing room. This is something bigger, you have to believe me!" This had been going on now half an hour. He had summoned them all to the cantina. Everyone was there apart from Kara who was still at the infirmary and Kesra Devlin of whom no one knew if she was dead or not. He hadn't told them the whole story, just the parts they had to know. And still they didn't believe him. If he only could… And then his comm beeped.

"Lochlin here. What is it?"

"Mallan here. Meet me in my quarters. Bring a data pad. Now. Mallan out." Her voice sounded somehow strange… _strained_ he thought. He stood up. "Well, ladies and gentlemen, you heard the lady. This meeting is closed until further news from me, 'kay? See you at the next briefing… or whenever you like to see me."

Banon chuckled. "As if anyone wanted to." He got just a side glance.

"Just in case. Now excuse me, please." And with that he headed off the cantina.

When he entered her quarters this time she wasn't sitting at her desk, just sitting on the lower bunk and starring off into space. He cleared his throat.

"You wanted to see me, Captain…" She looked up at him and the pain he saw in her watery shining eyes made _him_ ache physically.

"Captain…?" She said nothing, just handed him a data pad. He began to read aloud. "Mere minutes ago we lost contact to our dependence on Alderaan…" He didn't like the least of this. He scrolled down the article. Obviously it was from some HoloNet-broadcasting station somewhere around Coruscant. At the end of it was another article, dated half an hour later. "A moment ago the officials of the Imperial Navy have confirmed that Alderaan has ceased… to… exist…" A little sob came from below him. What had she said at her little self-introduction? _I am 25 standard years old, my home world is Alderaan…_ "Oh force…" He seated himself beside her. "Captain, if there is anything we can do for you…" She shook her head. "No, there is nothing. I have to solve this on my own." He put a hand on her shoulder but took it away as soon as she looked at him with evident anger in her eyes. "You know, your squadron comrades aren't only your subordinates but your _comrades_."

"Nevertheless you can't help me. No one of you can. Now take that data pad, leave me alone and present everything that's on it in half an hour to the squadron. I don't think I will be ready to do this by then." There was something in the air, something which he quite couldn't detect. But he surely didn't like it.

"Ma'am…"

"_Do I have to issue every order twice, Lieutenant?_" There was so much force in her words he instantly obeyed them.

He didn't know why but in the same moment the door began to close he turned around a last time. And everything seemed to happen at once.

Through the closing door he could see her taking something from her thigh. Something lengthy, small and shining… just like her officer's blaster. Realization dawning on him amazingly fast he put his foot between door and frame reflexively and pushed the door open with a surprising amount of strength and agility and held his palm towards her, shouting "_No!_". Then everything went into slow motion. She spun around, pulling the trigger oh so slowly. The last thing he saw before fading into oblivion was the look of shock mixed with surprise on her face and the blue laser beam zooming in to him.


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

**_Liberty_, Sick-bay/pilots lounge**

When Kara Kar'Esta was released off sick-bay her world wasn't entirely the same any more. The first thing she saw – she was even still half in the infirmary – was Marcus Lochlin, one of her fellow Grays rushed into the intensive care unit and medics buzzing and hovering all around him. Then, only minutes later, a nearly catatonic woman wearing Rebel Alliance standard pilot uniform with the rank insignia of a Captain was brought in with Tyan D'ar, her squadron's medic, quietly talking to her.

Totally confused she asked the first Gray she met if he knew _any_thing about what was happening. Randy Krennel, the youngest male member of the squadron, seemed to be as confused as she was but he tried to tell her all he knew. "He kept repeating "Something big just happened, something really big.", and then suddenly he ran off to the Captain's quarters and the next thing I hear is Kenzy practically shouting over the comm to get Tie there and something about Alderaan I didn't quite understand." The Devaronian sat down slowly on the chair standing next to her. "Alderaan…" She choked. "Alderaan's been destroyed." Krennel looked down at her. "Now you're kidding, Kay."

"No, Randy… no kidding in this." He sat down, too. "The Captain said she was from Alderaan…" She narrowed her eyes. "Captain? A woman, long red-golden hair, my height?" He nodded. "So that's why she looked so strange…" she muttered, more to herself than Randy. "What?" She cleared her throat. "She was brought in the infirmary just after Marcus. Completely catatonic. Tie kept fussing over her, while Marcus… Randy, do you know what happened? Just anything?" He just shook his head. At the same moment the massive shadow of Pat Flann fell on them and the booth they occupied in the cantina. "She shot him, that's what happened." Randy and Kara both snapped her heads up, startled. "Don't pull that drill-sergeant voice on us again, Flann.", Kara muttered irritated. Randy just kept starring. "Shot him? That's impossible, why should she shoot at a fellow officer?"

"Completely off the roll, I'd say." That was Blenwell's voice. He pulled a chair and sat down, too. "Is this going to be one of these "incidentally" meetings of Gray Squadron?" Kara asked, still confused and got her answer from Lieutenant Kenzy as she approached the group. "No, I called for it. You were the only one getting here by incident. But now that you're here… it's good to have you back."

After some more minutes the rest of the squadron, consisting of Banon, Deraani and Nunb, had joined them. Kenzy cleared her throat and immediately everyone was looking at her. Well, everyone save Blenwell but she almost had waited for that. Any moment there would be the obligatory remark. She was counting down in her head. _One, two, three…_ "I don't know 'bout you, guys, but I got something more important to do than listen to that wanna-be commander here." Inwardly she sighed. "May I inform you that now that I'm the highest-ranking officer in this squadron I have the full responsibilities of you, Flight Officer Blenwell?", she asked matter-of-factly and just prayed that he didn't answer and start another banter game. And she wished she wouldn't let him provoke her so often. "You may. But would you just get started now? I gotta get my sleep time. No… wait… I'm going to get enough sleep nonetheless…" As ever so often Flann fell into chuckling with Blenwell and Saron just tried to ignore them. "Okay, I'm gonna make this short." Blenwell and Flann made a show of sighing happily. "With two pilots injured in sick bay, one serving as a medic and one in Imperial "care", we are the squadron with the lowest number of pilots. I'm going to file a request for replacements, three temporary and one steady, but I don't think this will help any. Luckily we are still at an even number but we need a re-arrangement of our wing-pairings nonetheless."

She tossed a few data cards in the round. "You can see them on this cards. There are also the re-arrangements of our day-duty and training schedule, warrant as long as we remain like we are now. I've spoken to Tie 10 minutes or so ago and he told me that because of the bacta shortage we're on in the moment the healing of Marcus will take at least one week. Unfortunately he couldn't say anything about Captain Mallan. I fear that she has to face an inquiry as soon as she is able to speak again. I don't know about you but I think we won't see her again. That's it, more or less. Any questions?"

For some seconds they only starred at her. Nobody of them had seen her in her full commando mode before and they were stunned. Now they could image why she got promoted to brevet Lieutenant shortly after joining Starfighter Command. But after the first shock subsided they began to babble all at once.

"When do you think will we get the replacements?"

"What's this news about Alderaan?"

"I heard of some super-weapon…"

"Are we going to do anything about Devlin?"

"Will we get a new commander?"

She held up a hand and barked out a short "Can it!" and everybody was quite again. "Now, people, everyone will get his or her question answered but in line, 'kay? First is Randy." She looked at the young pilot seated to the right of her. "Kara said that Alderaan was destroyed. Do we have any confirmation about this?" She nodded sadly. "Unfortunately, yes. And to answer your question, Deraani, rumor has it indeed that it was a new Imperial super weapon. I used some contacts to Intel who told me that they have a 95 probability that this rumor can be confirmed. And they are normally quite thorough."

Saron nodded to Banon, giving him the opportunity to ask. "Do you think we will get a new commander at any time?" She knew Banon just asked this question out of habit, still not used to the idea of a permanent female commander like most of the male rebel pilots, but nevertheless she felt annoyed by the question. "If you haven't noticed I _am_ a commissioned officer and therefore fit to command this squadron as long as Starfighter Command wants me to do it. But I think that when Marcus is fit to fly again he will take over the squadron." Kenzy didn't have to tell them that this would be mainly because Mallan wrote quite a heck of a recommendation in the communiqué she had wanted Marcus to read out to the squadron. It wouldn't be good neither for her nor Marcus. She clasped her hands. "Well, anything more?" They shook their heads. "Good. Dismissed." At this she turned and made her way back to her quarters.

**

* * *

**

**ISD _Predator_, interrogation room**

"Now, what do we have here?" Kesra Devlin opened her right eye. The left was too swollen to even attempt that. What she saw made her almost vomit. Before her stood in his perfectly spotless Imperial Navy uniform Admiral Arvin Chesfer. There were two things Devlin connected with this uniform. Unbearable pain and humiliation. In the few hours she had been in her prison they had stripped her off her flight suit, only leaving her in her underwear, had taken away her dog tags and had tortured her until she didn't feel anything except _pain_. And now some bald, cunningly grinning, self-righteous Imperial admiral was standing before her.

She was way to exhausted to speak anymore and so he got his question answered by the filtered voice of one of her stormtrooper guards. "Prisoner 1473. Rodian. Female. Intelligence identified it as "Flight Officer Kesra Devlin" by its identification number." The admiral nodded and looked down on her. Only now she realized that she most be lying on a bunk in cell. From the grin that spread over his face now she wished hard she would have died under the first torture session. "Female, you say? And a pilot… This could be interesting. Take her to the _Predator_ into my special cell tract. Hopefully she is as strong as the rumors say about the Rebels' women pilots. I need a new toy. The last one broke down pretty fast."

With that she was hauled up by the stormtroopers. And her wish to be dead only grew worse.

**

* * *

**

**Nebulon-B-Frigate _Liberty_, Lt. Kenzy's quarters**

_Are we going to do anything about Devlin?_ Nunb's synthetical computer voice still sounded in her head. Saron really wished she could have said yes but quite frankly she hadn't decided anything on this yet. She had read Mallan's communiqué where she also stated that she had sent in a request to Intelligence for information about the _Hunter_ and that she had been working on the first planning stage on rescuing the lost squadron member as soon as there was any word on her and the _Hunter_'s whereabouts.

When reading this Saron had grown quite embarrassed. She had accused the other woman of not caring about her subordinates out of anger about having to let Devlin down but she had been totally wrong. It had been Mallan's first objective to bring back Devlin if there was only the hint of hope. Although she knew that Intelligence had a hard time fulfilling all the requests from all over the Alliance military and civil administration she logged on HoloNet, punched in the password Mallan had given in her communiqué and waited for the surface to come up. She couldn't grasp her luck as she saw a little icon blinking in the upper left corner of the screen. She clicked on it at eventually got a text-mail with an attachment from Intel. She opened the attachment and began to read.

_Information available on_ Hunter: _Lancer-class frigate, part of the IV. Imperial Battle Group. Commanded by Captain Desra Tellik. Several encounters with Alliance battle groups, ground bases and solo operating ground and space units reported. Latest one was Nebulon-B-frigate_ Liberty. _At the moment operating mostly in the area of the Outer Rim, mostly Alzoc III._

_Not much_, she thought. There was something else, something quite odd. _A statistic about captured Alliance personnel in the Outer Rim, lined after occupation, rank, coordinates, date, name, ID-number, race and sex._ Shrugging she scrolled down.

After an hour of evaluation she had found out that in the past two months there had been 40 captures, 28 of them female, mixed races, mostly pilots and ground soldiers and all of them in the operating area of the IV. Imperial Battle Group. _Now if _that_ isn't a weird co-incidence._ She did a random check on the missing personnel and found out that the ones captured from two months to one month ago were mainly confirmed or presumed dead and that all the remaining 9 were missing in action with no cue about their fate. Saron didn't know how long she had starred at the words _Pilot, Flight Officer, 149.8/387.65, 7-5-5648, Devlin, Kesra, 150528-D-59527, Rodian, female_ when she suddenly was brought out of her reverie by a beeping comm. "Kenzy here, what is it?"

"Tie here. I think you should come to sick bay as fast as possible."

**_

* * *

_**

**_Predator_, brig**

This time Kesra awoke painfully slow, as if she had to swim through flowing mud to reach the surface. _Drugs._, she thought weakly. _There must have been drugs…_ She moaned. "Welcome to hell.", a female sounding bored voice said. Kesra pulled all her strength together and opened her eyes. _Both of them_, she noticed surprised. As quick as she could she did a survey of the room. _Dim light, no windows, 10 bunks arrayed in a circle…_ She counted six huddled figures on the ground and the bunks and one woman sitting on another bunk with her left leg dangling down. "Who…?"

"Flight Officer Telsij Cayr, ID 031123-C-56834, Blue Squadron, at your service. And who are you?" Confused by the other woman's boldness Kesra also stated her rank, name, ID and squadron and then looked at the other… beings. "And…"

"Next to me on the right, Private Ryana Whares, some commando group I never remember. Got captured on some force-forsaken backwater planet. Then, beside her, on the floor, Lieutenant Maresh R'siikhi, control officer aboard a recently destroyed Corellian Corvette. Then we got MT1 Kat Deira, mechanic aboard some captured frigate." Dropping her voice to an affected sounding whisper Cayr went on: "Claims to be one of Red Flight's mechanics but if you ask me she's just braggin'." Recovering her original somewhat bored voice she continued: "The one to your right is Councilor H'sishi Istr, member of the Rebel Alliance Administration Corps. The next lady is Lieutenant Ganna Dsa'Osra, member of the Rebel Alliance Corps of Engineers. And last but not least this one left to me here is Lance Corporal Mijiyo Anasu, thinks to be the only survivor of her commando platoon which was ambushed more or less two and a half months ago. She is the one with the most time here. Well, and then you got me again." Kesra swapped her gaze around the room. The figures sitting there hadn't move a bit at the mention of their names. It seemed as if they were dead. She looked again at Cayr. "Are… are they… dead?"

"No. And yes. Don't ask me to explain it because you will experience it yourself when _your_ times comes." The tone of her voice, this time sounding real, was dead serious and made Kesra shudder. _When _my_ time comes…_

**_

* * *

_**

**_Liberty, _sick-bay**

Exhausted. She felt so _exhausted_. Coreena rolled around in her bed and starred at the white wall. What the heck had she done to get herself so drained out? She couldn't remember anything but she had the nagging feeling that something from her memory had gotten lost. She could almost see the white patch replacing some event she desperately needed to remember but at the same time she had the strange desire _not_ to remember it. Heaving another sigh she rolled over again. Two hours feeling completely down and still not being able to sleep had taken their toll on her. Frustrated she got up and slowly walked over to the large window. They were in deep space and only few stars could be seen but that didn't diminish the feelings she had every time she had the muse to just look at the stars and let her thoughts wander.

She didn't know how long she had been standing there, watching at the stars with an occasional stray star fighter flying by, when the door behind her opened. "Captain Mallan, I suppose?" Slowly she turned around to see two men in the uniforms of Rebel Alliance Intelligence Service. "Yes. And you are…"

"Captain Reed from Intelligence, and this is my partner, Lieutenant Mitchum. We'd like to ask you a few questions about the incident happening some hours ago." _Incident?_ "What… incident?" The men looked at each other frowning and then turned to her again. "So… you don't remember anything?" There was something in the manner of the man she didn't like the least. The feeling she got only told her she had been right about the white patch theory. "No… I… can remember attending the emergency conference about Alderaan being destroyed and then instructions General Dodonna gave us… but I get the suspicion you're not talking about this, are you?" They looked at each other again, with the same odd expression in their faces from before. "Did I get this right? You don't remember shooting your XO?"

This question hit her like a full force blast into the stomach and made her physically sick in an instant. She staggered back to her bed and slumped down on it, looking at the two Intelligence agents with a mixture of confusion, hurt, pain and fear in her eyes. "I did _what_?" In the same moment the door opened again and Tyan D'Ar came running in together with Lieutenant Kenzy. Without taking any notice of the two Intelligence men the Bith doctor came directly towards Coreena and gripped her by her shoulders. "Did they ask you anything about what happened before you came here?" After recognizing the look of her face a few seconds later he didn't need any answer from her. He turned to the Intel officers. "You told her, didn't you?" The desire to run and hide grew bigger and bigger insider her. With a quick glance Kenzy realized that it was only a question of time until Mallan began to cry so she rushed at her side, signaling to D'Ar to get the two other officers out of the room or at least distract them. Reluctantly he left Mallan's side and moved to the Intel men.

While he was cursing on them, condemning their actions, explaining to them that she was still in shock and that the revelation of the facts that caused the temporary amnesia would severely affect her healing process – and what was most important – ushering them slowly out of the room, Kenzy sat down beside Mallan and tried to console her. When the men finally had left the room and she was only with the Captain she began to speak to her while silently the tears began to flow down. "Look, Captain… I'm not very good at these soft things… you know, make others stop crying and so on… but I'm sorry you had to learn it the hard way… and I'm even more sorry that they told you the truth." A strangled sob was the only answer from the Captain. "At least you're lucky you didn't start crying when they were still in the room. It's never good for a female soldier to let someone see her cry. Men don't understand it. And… well… if I'm honest… I get irritated by that a bit myself, too… anyway… you wanna talk?"

For the first time she had been talking to her Captain the woman lifted her face and nodded. When she opened her mouth her voice came out in a hoarse whisper, interrupted by choked sobs. "Did I really…" Kenzy nodded. "I already told you and unfortunately it's still true." Mallan looked at her hands and Kenzy had the sneaking suspicion that she was looking for blood traces. "But… _why_?" As hard boiled as the Lieutenant was, this was surely racking her nerves, too. "Again I'm sorry to tell you this… but you are the only person who could tell. Well, maybe apart from Lochlin, that is, but he's still in coma so…" The Captain narrowed her eyes. But at least her voice was coming back to its normal volume. "Coma? Did I shoot him this bad…?" Kenzy could see the desperation building up inside her and was truly relieved that she could tell the other woman news that were at least partially good for her.

"No, but we're on a bacta shortage. There are almost none of our bacta reserves left so we have to rely on synth-flesh and ryll." Mallan took her face down again. Then, the hoarse whisper was back again. "Can I… see him?" This question took her off-guard. "I'm not sure… Tie didn't say anything about that…" Two strange eyes gazing intensively at her had quite an interesting affect. "But… maybe…" These eyes were still starring at her. Surprised she realized that the right eye was in a piercing ice-cold blue while the left had the color of emerald green. She sighed. "Yes. But we have to be careful not to rise any suspicions. Act normal while we cross the corridor, okay?" The Captain nodded and got up. She straightened her hospital robe and gave the Lieutenant an expectant look. "Well?" A bit confused Kenzy got up, too. Without another word they left the room.

When they were on their way to intensive care Coreena tried to be as matter-of-factly as she could according the circumstances. She cleared her throat and tried to sound relaxed when she asked: "So… what's with the squadron? I assume you took over the command?" Hesitating Kenzy nodded. "Yes. I organized wing-pairing changes and gave them the new day-routine and training schedule. I hope you don't mind that I requested replacements not only for Devlin and Lochlin bud also for you." Mallan shook her head. "No, it was the right decision. I don't think they will let me back to active service for quite a while when they sent some guys from Intelligence this early. So… who's your XO?" Again she was taken off-guard. She had taken everything in her mind apart from assigning a new XO. "Well… I…"

"It would be Flight Officer Blenwell because of his length of service, am I right?" The Captain eyed her interested and Kenzy had quite a hard time trying to hide her scorn from her. _So she has noticed the particular animosity between us._ "Yes, ma'am." Coreena sensed the uneasiness in the Lieutenant and decided to change the topic. "So… did you read my report?" Kenzy nodded. "And… have you decided anything on the thing with Devlin?"

"Well… I… read the data Intelligence had provided us with and came to a very strange conclusion." This conversation was taking an interesting turn for Coreena. Ever since she had been brought into sick bay she detected real interest for what was happening outside. She found it almost a pity that they had reached intensive care. Without a word Kenzy led her to Lieutenant Lochlin's bed and Coreena suddenly felt the urge to be completely alone with him. She turned to Kenzy. "Would you mind… leaving me… us… alone for some time?" After considering her options for just a moment she nodded and turned to leave but Mallan called her back. "I want you to write me a complete report about your data analysis until tomorrow. And brief the squadron on it, too. Oh, and coordinate your actions with flight officer Blenwell." To her surprise Kenzy tossed her a salute and answered with a stout "Yes, ma'am.", then spun on her heel and left.

Frowning and a little uneasy, Coreena got herself a chair and sat down beside Lochlin's bed. Feeling a little awkward she began to talk in a low voice so that only he could hear it. _If he could hear, would be the correct phrase._, she thought in a just slightly bitter tone.

"So… I hope you don't have to feel too much pain wherever you are. I… just want to say that I can't express how sorry I am about hurting you. Can you image that I don't even know why I did this? I can't even remember you coming to my quarters or speaking to me or anything from some hours ago. I feel so horrible… I can feel that the memory of why and when I did this is still lying somewhere in the back of my mind but I just don't have access to them." She looked at the silent face of her XO. He was unusual pale and under his eyes dark circles had formed. For quite a time she just sat there, starring at the man lying before her and silently pondering how this could have happened. And with every minute her inability to grasp the memories that seemed to slip out of her hands every time she was so close to them she could almost see the images before her again unnerved her more. Just to calm herself down she began her monologue again.

"You see… I still can't remember why I did this but I'm absolutely sure I didn't do this on purpose. I'd never hurt a fellow officer. Force… I wish you'd just wake up, don't suffer from amnesia and tell everybody how this happened." Without thinking she reached out and ran her hand over his face with a butterfly light touch. "I am so _sorry_. You did nothing to me… well, apart from not being able to fill out a simple report, that is… Oh, look at me, I'm scolding you even if you can't hear me." Time seemed to be insignificant as she sat there, talking to a man she barely knew, spilling out her secrets and ever so often begging him to forgive her. Every once in while a nurse or a doctor would come by but they didn't dare to disturb her as she seemed to be so worried about the patient. And after two hours she finally fell asleep with her head beside his arm.


	5. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

**_Liberty_, work-out room**

Deep down in the ship's belly Kenzy had discovered a work-out room completely with a self-repairing dummy, treat mills and everything a pilot's mind desired. Shortly after the encounter with Mallan she decided that it she had worked up enough frustration to give the dummy a really thorough beating-up. After warming-up and doing some stretching she began with punches, went over to some kicks and finally got in the flow of motions. Her concentration on the dummy had been built up so high she didn't notice someone else coming in the room and watching her for quite a time. When she stopped to take a short break and drink a little, the someone finally said: "Quite impressive, Lieutenant. For a woman, that is." Slowly she turned around just to see a mocking grin spreading over Blenwell's face. "Say that again, Flight Officer." He snorted. "And get a kick in the ass from you? No way."

"You afraid of me, Flight Officer?" She rolled her head and fastened the strips on her hands. He threw away the towel he had brought with him and put away the water bottle he had been carrying. "Care for a little spar?" Now what was she waiting for? This was her chance to show this boy what stuff army women were made of. So she nodded. "I could use a little hand to hand combat practice." He just grinned and took his stance. So did she. When they were both settled they began circling each other, waiting for their respective opponent to strike.

With all her senses alert and in full combat mode Kenzy observed her opponent, searching for even the smallest sign telling her he'd strike. And luck was with her. She could see him shifting his weight a little and twitch his fingers oh so slightly and only microseconds later he aimed a kick at her head. Quick as an eel she dodged and lunged her right leg at his left foot. She draw away the foot but he quickly could regain his balance and now tried a punch with his right. Using the speed and his way as he was coming towards her she grabbed his arm and flung him down to the ground. Realizing he was very close to losing he switched to desperate measures. He grabbed her ankle to bring her down beside him but she did an almost too quick to notice and was suddenly sitting on top of him. She crossed her arms over his throat and let only so much place that he could barely breath. Her face only centimeters from his away she said in a very low, dangerous sounding voice: "Hand-to-hand combat rule number one: Never underestimate your opponent." Then she got up and offered him a hand. Idiot or not, she had been taught to be always fair in training exercises. But instead of taking it and just getting up, he grabbed it and – with a quick and surprisingly fluent move of his legs – pulled her legs away from under her body. With a thud she fell down beside him and for some moments only their heavy breathing could be heard. "Hand-to-hand combat rule number two: Never trust an opponent on the ground.", he finally managed to say. Her only answer was a snort.

After some more moments they both got up. While drinking they both shared an odd mutual silence and Marten got a completely new view of her body. He had to admit that the tight fitting top and legging she was wearing were doing a lot more for her appearance than her normal standard uniform or pressure suit. The sparse white light from the ceiling made her body shimmer with reflexes and let one half of her face lie in the shadows. _When you don't see the scar it's actually not all that unattractive anymore…_ he mused and instantly reprimanded himself. _Remember you're not into rancors._

She ran a hand through her tousled and sweat drenched hair and rubbed her face with the towel. Saron didn't miss Blenwell sizing her up in a matter she despised ever since her days at the slave trader's. "Don't you have something else to do than standing here and drooling over me?" Again that nasty look he seemed to have reserved only for her. "Whoever said I was?" Instead of answering she turned around, almost ready for another round of dummy-beating. _Or Blenwell-beating, that is._ But no, she wouldn't let herself be provoked this time. Unfortunately she could feel his eyes on her body again. If he would just stop it. _I bet he's doing this because he full well knows how it's irritating me._ Without saying another word, she took her things and headed towards the exit. Just before leaving she eventually found a way to annoy him just as much as he had annoyed her. She turned around and said: "Oh, and I want your report on the data analysis I sent you in two hours, XO." Then she was out of the room.

**_

* * *

_**

**_Predator_, brig**

Kesra awoke from unpleasant and almost feverish dreams when the door of her prison opened and the storm troopers threw in a lifeless Kat Deira. The woman landed on the ground with a loud thud and laid there motionless. From what Kesra could see from her position she was breathing and her face, although thin and emaciated, seemed quite flawless apart from some minor cuts and bruises. She wondered what they had done to her. Cayr must have noticed he wondering and answered her question. "Don't think she was like this when they were finished with her. They use a nice little tactic here. After having completed another round of torture they send us to sick bay where we're not healed but only made fit for the next round. Our technician there is under sedatives. She'll wake up in approximately one hour, I think."

Kesra narrowed her eyes a bit. "How come you always seem to know what time it is in here?" This was the first full sentence she had said since she was in here. It earned her an upraised eyebrow by Cayr. "They may have taken my digital chrono but they can't take away my biological one. Believe me, after some training you can fully rely on it. You should try it. Gives you something else to think about then what's still to come for you." _If she just wouldn't speak in riddles all the time…_ Kesra thought and concentrated again on the still form of Kat Deira lying on the ground. She didn't seem to interest any other woman in the room but Kesra who was drilled to help any comrade in any situation got up and walked to the woman. This time her action earned her a snort from Cayr. "Why help her, kid?" This woman surely was annoying her more with every word. "Because she is a fellow rebel! She helped to maintain the fighters! Her people are the backbone of our movement!"

"Yeah, sure… do you believe every word they drill into you? You have to learn so much more, kid…"

"But not from you, you cynical…" Cayr just raised an eyebrow. "You… you have completely detached yourself from any feeling. You may think that this is the best way to cope with this all but in reality you are the first one where the Empire succeeded. You have let yourself being turned into a heartless bitch that could be an Imperial officer as well." By now not only Cayr's gaze was lying on her but the other's as well suddenly took some interest in her. Kesra felt very uneasy. "Believe it or not, I'm the only one who's gonna make it out of here alive."

"Yes, because you let the other ones die because you think they are weak, don't you?" Cayr was silent, not even her eyes moved. Satisfied that she had finally landed a blow on the indestructible Kesra raised her chin defiantly. Then, slowly the other woman said: "You may think that this is cynical and heartless but the truth is: It's the only way to go. Just look at the others…" Kesra did and she saw pain, sorrow and fear in their eyes, if there was anything left at all. She considered everything she and Cayr had exchanged and then said: "Not, it's not. We can only make it out of here if we work together…" A glare from Cayr silenced her. Then the woman mouthed something. Kesra's ears were the ears of a huntress and she understood the word "surveillance". And then realization dawned on her. Maybe that had made plans to escape but because of the observance they were all discovered and surely the women had been punished for this. No wonder they were all passive like this. She looked around again and mumbled only: "I see."

And then something very surprising happened. H'sishi Istr, the Ishi Tip councilor, lifted her head and spoke in a low raspy voice: "The young one is right, Flight Officer. We should hold together. This is what makes us strong. And we need strength, even you." Her large eyes traveled back and forth between Cayr and Kesra. The first one to answer her was not one of the both but Lance Corporal Mijiyo Anasu, a small, almost petite, woman with oblique eyes and short cropped opaque shimmering black hair. "The Ishi Tip's got a point, Cayr. If we want to make it out here alive we have to help each other. You don't have to befriend us if you don't think us worthy enough but you need our help. Before… before the ambush I had a Captain who was a bit like you… a loner, sometimes a cynic, but she always stood up for us, helped us where we needed it…"

"And why wasn't she there when you were ambushed, huh?"

This time it was the Lieutenant from control who answered Cayr. "You're still missing the point. Stop being selfish and forbidding yourself any feeling. We may be only few and we may have no weapons, no support, no contact to our troops, no whatsoever but we have _us_…" At the same moment a groan interrupted their discussion. The bundle that was Kat Deira stirred and tried to sit up. Kesra crouched down and helped her. When she had adjusted her eyes to the room's light she looked at Kesra and made a sound that was half sob, half wail. Then she collapsed into Kesra's arms. Confused Kesra engulfed her and held her while the other woman seemed to cry out her soul. Now, Ganna Dsa'Osra, a feline-like looking Cath, came towards her with elegant strides and crouched down. Her fur-covered hands glided over Deira's back an her words came out like in a purr. "Do not worry. We will help you. You are not alone." Cayr, in the back of the room, just snorted, but Kesra had the feeling that it was just out of habit, not out of real contempt.

**_

* * *

_**

**_Liberty_, briefing room**

"So you think, someone in this battle group likes female prisoners?" Kenzy nodded. "Well, I never thought I'd say this but you obviously _are_ cleverer than you look. Or have someone who is able to read my notes to you." Blenwell expressed his scorn in one of his nasty looks but didn't say anything. "You have a suspicion already?" She rubbed her hands over her eyes. "Well, I made some check-ups and the like and the only one with enough power to select the prisoners and their location is Admiral Arvin Chesfer, commander of the battle group. His HQ is on board the VSD _Predator_. I looked up his profile and it corresponded to what I was expecting. Unusually "efficient" in "interviewing" prisoners, which means that he knows an enormous amount of torturing methods and so on. In the records I found they stated that he uses the standard technique to sew victims together after each torture so they can be tortured and questioned quite literally forever."

"Barbaric.", was the only word Blenwell had to offer. She nodded and leaned back, rolling her head from left to right and massaging her neck. "Yeah, right. So… what do we do about this?"

"I thought this was your job, oh fierce and mighty leader." She propped her feet up on the rail in the briefing room. "May I remind you that an XO has the duty to help and support his CO by and with any means and is responsible for the well-being and comfort of his CO?" He cocked an eyebrow. "Are you _flirting_, Lieutenant?" As an answer she moved further away from him and said: "Are you _day-dreaming_, Flight Officer?" To her surprise he moved after her until he was mere millimeters away from her. "I think not, Lieutenant." Overwhelmed with his boldness and impertinence she was speechless, just starred at him. Then she suddenly jumped up. "I think we should end this meeting now. Don't call me until I give you the permission. And don't get in my way for the same amount of time." Then she just turned around and stormed out of the room. Blenwell just laid back and let out a dramatic sigh.


	6. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

**_Liberty_, sick-bay**

Standing at the big window in sick bay again, Coreena mused about the last two days. She had sat at the bedside of her second-in-command for the majority, had quietly talked to him, even slept at his side when exhaustion finally took over but he had remained unconscious. She had regained a small amount of her memories through dreams and sudden flash-backs. At the moment she could remember calling him after the emergency conference and giving him instructions for the squadron but she absolutely could not remember what instructions and why she wanted to give them to him. Frustrated she slammed her fist against the transpari-steel window. "I would rather like it if you chose not to destroy vital military material, Captain."

Irritated she spun around, only to find herself confronted with Captain Reed and Lieutenant Mitchum again. In a cool voice she answered: "And I would rather like it if you chose not to intimidate me again, Captain." He showed her a half-smile and then became all business. "We have the formal permission to interview you from your squadron medic. Therefore we have to ask you some questions." She nodded tentatively but stayed at the window. "At first... do you remember anything that happened _after_ the conference?" She answered as good as she could. "Are you sure you don't know why or when you shot your XO?"

"Yes."

"Would you swear an oath to that?"

"Yes."

"And would you swear an oath to the statement that you didn't do this on purpose?"

"Yes."

Reed nodded to his partner and the man took some notes. "Well, that was all for now. A good day to you." And out they went.

Coreena just rushed towards her bed and slumped down. What was this all about? She knew she probably had to face a hearing but she could make absolutely nothing of this incident. Sighing she laid down and looked at the ceiling. She just wished she could remember. After some more minutes of starring she dosed off and almost jumped out of her bed when someone knocked on her door. "Come in."

The door opened and Saron Kenzy entered. "Hi.", the woman just said and sat down beside Coreena. "Lieutenant?" Kenzy looked up and seemed to have snapped out of a daze of some sort. "Yeah?" Coreena raised her eyebrows. "Is there something that irritates you?" Giving her a half-smile Kenzy answered: " Well… I… I just don't think it very wise to make Blenwell my XO. We just don't get along very well." Another cocked eyebrow. "I… We…" There was something else, Coreena could somehow sense it. "Lieutenant…", she began vigilantly, "you want to tell me what happened?"

"Nothing happened, Captain…" Kenzy looked at her Captain again and for the first time met eyes that were so painfully inquiring. "I…" Another look from those eyes and Kenzy told her Captain everything from the incident that had happened two hours ago. Coreena shook her head. She knew of these tricks, had to experience them herself, had let herself being caught by this… and had herself being thrown out of two squadrons because she had trusted the men pulling these tricks too much. "Well… I'm sorry to say this but I can't help you with this in anything. I just can advise you to be careful and be at watch… but… maybe that's just Blenwell's style to offer you a ceasefire or something…" She was interrupted by the beeping of her com-link. "Mallan here. What is it?" A voice unknown to Kenzy said: "Aurora here. Lieutenant Lochlin just woke up. Thought that might interest you." She looked at Kenzy. "Thank you very much for telling me, Ensign. Mallan out." At the door she looked back and winked at Kenzy. "C'mon, Lieutenant."

Together they made their way to intensive care. Almost hesitatingly they entered. The male Lieutenant had his eyes open but he still had the breathing mask on his face. At the sight of the two women a weak smile crept over his face. "Hi.", he breathed and earned a hesitant smile from Mallan and an unreadable expression from Kenzy. Then Mallan coughed and took a seat beside him. "Lieutenant… I'm happy to see you up again but there are some questions I need you to answer me. You think you are capable of this?" After considering her request he nodded. "You may find this strange but I can't remember anything after returning to my quarters, calling you and giving you some instructions. There is going to be a hearing most probably so I need to know pretty fast what happened afterwards. Can you tell me this?" He was a bit confused. What hearing? What was she talking about… and then it hit him. Almost in a whisper he answered her: "You… you were giving me instructions… and told me… to tell them to the squadron some hours later … Then I left… left your room… and was about to go… but I could see you draw a blaster… obviously to commit suicide… so I didn't think and tried to prevent you… and then you shot at me…" Mallan and Kenzy shared a look and then Kenzy left. He had _no_ clue what this was all about. "I… I'm sorry about this, Lieutenant. I swear, I didn't do this on purpose. It was…"

"I know, Captain. You told me before, remember?" This seemed to genuinely shock her. "You… you heard that? Did you hear anything else?" He had, but he couldn't make any sense of the sparse incoherent memory he had so he just told her no. This woman clearly had too much to worry about already. "So… how's the squadron?"

"You really want to make some conversation, Lieutenant?" He managed to raise his eyebrows a little. "Well, you don't, Captain?" She smiled. "Well, to be honest, I don't know very much about the squadron. Kenzy assumed command, with Blenwell as her XO. She rearranged the schedules and wing-pairings and requested some replacement pilots. As far as I know she won't get any but it's worth the try, I think. She analyzed the data I asked Intelligence for but so far she hasn't told me anything on her results. I think, that's all I know for now." Lochlin grinned, if this was possible for an injured man in intensive care that is. "Kenzy and Blenwell as the new squadron command team. That's a hell of a explosives store, don't you think?" Coreena thought of the incident Kenzy told her about but didn't say anything about it. Kenzy had too much to worry about already. "Yeah… you bet they are. Have the medics said anything about when you're fit to fly again?"

"No… but why are you still hanging out in sick bay? You seem perfectly healthy…" She knew this had to come some time. "I already told you… there'll be a hearing and additionally to that Flight Officer D'Ar "strongly doubts my mental ability to fly", as he put it. I wish he just would listen when I'm telling him that flying sometimes is the only thing that keeps me sane."

"I know what you mean, believe me." After this their eyes met and they shared an odd silence. Suddenly Mallan got up and said good bye to him in a rather hasty fashion. Marcus just wondered what he had done wrong _this_ time.

**_

* * *

_**

**_Predator_, brig**

When the door opened this time Kesra had a very bad feeling about it. All of them were in the prison so the opening meant that one or even more of them were taken out to either torture or execute them. And right, the bald admiral who was responsible for her being on this ship, strode into the room and surveyed it with his hawk-like yellow eyes. Then the thing she feared most happened. His gaze stopped on her and he pointed in her direction. "Today I want this one. Get it ready in the chamber." From the corner of her eyes she registered the looks of the other women. Cayr was her usual cold and bored self, Ryana shot imaginary lasers towards the Imperials and H'sishi had her head lowered as usual but with her ears Kesra could hear the Ishi Tip whisper: "They cannot brake you. Remember the fire in you that brought you to our cause."

As the storm troopers hauled her up Kesra clung to that two sentences.


	7. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**

**_Liberty_, sick-bay**

Two days later the _Liberty_ rendezvoused with a freighter that finally brought them the vital bacta resources they needed. Marcus Lochlin was one of the first to be treated. As he was floating in the tank Coreena stood in front of it and silently watched him. After the incident two days ago she hadn't spoken with him again, still too confused about the feelings their last look had inspired. The last time she had felt anything like this was like three years ago and it had brought her only pain and a job she had never dreamt of. The profanity of her reasons to join the Rebellion still made her somewhat uneasy. She was quite sure not very much women had gotten into it because of love sickness.

Before everything had happened she had been the spoiled daughter of a single-parent Alderaanian lit professor with distinct connections to the Alderaanian royal family. Her mother had loved her, taught her the values every Alderaanian respected and even introduced her to a genuine princess. She had never known her father, and she had never needed one. Her mother had told her that he had been some unimportant Imperial officer on shore leave to Alderaan, and that was all she ever wanted to know. Men weren't needed in the live of Nunavut and Coreena Mallan. But everything had changed when Coreena had gotten to know a young rather unimportant noble from the court of Alderaan, one of her mother's students. He had been two or three years older than she, and was kind, charming and pretty good-looking but the greatest miracle of all had been that he actually had noticed her and even seemed to like her. They had been dating for quite a time, almost a year, when he finally pulled the big question. Had she known what saying yes meant she would never have done it. It had been just like in some trashy love HoloVid. Nothing had seemed to be wrong during the wedding preparations but when the big day was there she and her family and friends had been the only ones waiting at the altar. Later she found out that his mother had called the whole thing off because she had gotten wind that her future daughter-in-law was an illegitimate child. Not even her connections to the royal family had saved her. The woman just had had too much ambitions for power to let her son marry a woman who didn't even know her father's name. Having been set up and feeling like dirt she knew no better then to bid her mother farewell and hurry off the planet. And so Coreena Mallan met with the Resistance and had gotten involved with it. First to get her mind off the whole thing and only after two or three months out of real devotion for the cause.

The figure in the bacta tank stirred and opened his eyes. After feeling paralyzed for a second Coreena let her guts decide and fled the room. She just didn't want to get close to this man now.

**_

* * *

_**

**_Liberty_, on patrol around the ships**

"I tell you, she's avoiding me." Flann let out something that was part snort, part laugh. "Nah, you're imagining, Blenwell. If she was avoiding you she first would have to _notice_ you." Spinning his X-Wing in a barrel roll Marten let out his frustration. "Really, this woman hates me."

"As if you did anything to prevent this, Seven.", Deraani Kar'Esta's voice came over the comm. "Oh, will you just shut up, Three." Swaying around _Liberty_'s nose Deraani replied in a good-humored voice: "But I'm right, ain't I?"

"Yeah. _Now_ will you shut up?" Deraani grinned, showing little sharp teeth. _This is going to be fun._, she thought. "No! If you would be hating her as much why does it bother you like this?" _Even more so that Kenzy'll join our little party in some seconds._ "If you haven't noticed it by now, oh clever one, it is _not_ bothering me the least." _Maybe I'll get some nice story to tell Kara today… just have to lead him in the right direction…_ "Oh yeah… then why don't you just stop complaining about the Lieutenant?" A fourth green dot appeared on her rear monitor. _Now the party's got its honorary guest._ "I am _not_ complaining, I'm just telling Nine what that woman's really made of." _Come on, Blenwell, just say something_ really _stupid. Do it for me and my sister and the rest of the squadron._ "Yeah, as if we don't know this already. Really, Seven, you are _so_ predictable. You're like an open data file, you know that?"

"If you don't stop voicing your stupid suspicions about me, the Lieutenant and the crap you suspect between us I will personally space you right after we return to the hangar. Or maybe I choose to shoot you right know, I haven't decided yet."

"But I have decided to give you a very thorough lecture when we return from this patrol, Seven. In front of the _whole_ crew if you don't stop with your ridiculous whining immediately." Kenzy's reprimand and the shocked expression on Blenwell's face she could see even through the distance between them made Deraani laugh so hard that she had to turn of her comm for almost a minute. Only when she saw a red light blinking she turned it on again, switching to the channel she was hailed on. "You set this up, didn't you? You let me run into the sarlacc pit so you could enjoy your twisted sense of humor." This was just too funny. "Yeah, Blenwell. That was the revenge for telling Dreis about that little incident on the last shore leave."

"I will get you for this, you little…"

"Control to patrols: We just received sensor signals from a larger group of Imperial vessels 100 km away but they are coming at very high speed towards our direction. All patrols return to the hangars. We are jumping in five minutes so hurry up." Immediately Gray and Silver Cats patrol flights changed their courses and returned to their respective hangars. When every fighter had been brought in, the _Liberty_ immediately made the jump to light speed. "Running again.", Marten just mumbled gruffly.

**_

* * *

_**

**_Predator_, sick-bay**

Dimly Kesra registered that she was in a room she didn't know. Opening her eyes only half she saw white walls, a white ceiling and a moving figure, clad in white as well. Through the mist that was clouding her brain she figured that she was in some medical facility. As if having been detached from the rest of her mind, the reasonable part told her that the torture was over and that she now was about to experience the "after care". She just hoped they would put her back to unconsciousness because then she wouldn't have to feel her body hurting all over, most of all that strange soreness between her legs.

The figure came toward her and she recognized a human with short blond hair and syringe in his hands. Images of the past hour involving same looking instruments came back. When the syringe made her way nearer and nearer towards her she began squirming and making low whimpering noises. "Don't move. This will not hurt. It will make the pain go away." The voice speaking to her was surprisingly warm and soothing and – what was most interesting – quite obviously female. Kesra relaxed a bit. The human which she had thought being a young man turned out to be a woman, maybe a nurse or something, but when the syringe finally met her skin she contracted again. The unbearable pain several one of these had given her had burned itself into her brain.

"If you'd just keep quiet it wouldn't hurt." Now the voice became a little impatient. "I'm here to make some of the pain go away. Just don't make this any more difficult, will you?" And then a strange sensation flooded through Kesra's body. The pain which had tortured her seconds ago was gone, leaving behind only a kind of distinct soreness and her mind slowly seemed to clear from any memories connected with the pain. At last she fully opened her eyes and starred into the plain face of a human woman. "Hi, I'm Surgeon Lieutenant Doctor Ilara Kardian, chief medic aboard the _Predator_ and responsible for sewing together Chesfer's toys after he again managed to brake them, and who are you?" Was this some kind of interview, too? Not willing to trust her drugged mind Kesra chose to be silent. After waiting some moments the medic just shrugged and turned her back towards Kesra and seemed to activate a comm.

"Kardian here. I'm finished with her. No… I can't yet release her… No, commander, this one really needs some further monitoring… You don't seem to understand… She really…" Silence. An agitated voice on the other end of the comm. Then: "Yes, sir. No, sir. Yes, sir. Kardian out, sir." Kesra noticed a slight change in the upright stature of the medic but it was gone almost immediately. "Why for the Empire's sake do they make us swear that oath if they force us to brake it on every possible occasion afterwards? But who am I asking? Anyway…" A door opposite to Kesra's cot opened and an Imperial officer accompanied by some storm troopers appeared. He snapped to attention before the woman and began with " Lieutenant Ganner reporting…" but she made him stop with a wink. "Spare me that stupid protocol and take your prisoner." The black clad officer nodded and motioned towards Kesra, issuing some orders to the troopers standing behind him. Some moments later she was hauled up again.

**_

* * *

_**

**_Liberty_, sick-bay**

Not being able to sleep but still not being allowed to walk outside sick-bay, Marcus wandered aimlessly through it. That is, until he heard muffled moans and whimpers through a door. Wondering he stopped and read the provisional name tag. _Cpt. Coreena Mallan_. The sounds continued. _That clearly sounds like a nightmare or something._ Trusting his guts he pressed the door opener. Luckily the door eventually opened and he stepped into the dark room. Lighted only by the sparse light from the few stars shimmering through the velvety blackness of deep space Lochlin could make out her sleeping form, tossing restlessly from one side to the other. He had been right, she was being tortured by a nightmare of some sorts.

Not knowing what to do he just stood there, watching her and wishing he just could wake her up and make the suffering stop, taking her in his arms… Now, what was he _thinking_ of? Just like every other time he reminded himself over and over that this still was his _superior_, his _CO_, for the Jedi's sake. On her bed Coreena Mallan moved to a fetal position, seeming more vulnerable than ever. She seemed to have curled into a tight ball, half-whispering "No." over and over again. This just had to end, as Marcus could see no woman suffer, most of all not her… _Will you just_ stop _it?_, he again reprimanded himself. Hesitatingly he moved towards her and touched her shoulder as lightly as he could. Nevertheless she jerked up and starred at him with wild eyes. "What…? Who…?"

"Sh, sh… it's just me, Lochlin." Her bewilderment didn't cease, even seemed to grow. "Lochlin? _Lieutenant_ Lochlin? But… you are dead…" So this was what her nightmare had been about. "No, I'm here. Really, I am." At last she seemed to relax a little. "I… you… yes… yes, I recognize your voice." And then she realized the situation. "What the heck are you doing in my room?" She sounded furious but that somehow sounded better than her confused stammering some moments ago. "I… I heard you through the door, and thought you might have nightmare, so I…"

"So you thought you'd just storm into my room, snatch me from my nightmare's talons and be cherished as my hero?" Now she was becoming unfair. "Hey! _I_ did _not_ end a conversation by storming off because of some look!" She fully sat up in her bed and drew her legs toward her. "I didn't end the talk either, it was over anyway, okay?" Her behavior had changed to defiantly. He didn't like this either. "Now, look, Captain…"As she tilted her head a little her eyes caught the light from the stars outside and had a fascinating twinkle to them. He forced himself to stop looking like a lovesick teenager, even if she couldn't fully see his facial expression.

"It's just… we should stop avoiding each other or talk only business respectively. We are squadron mates and we should act like this. Or we'll become the equivalent to our all-favorite banter pair. I don't think it would be very good for the squadron if it had a command group like this." She turned her head to the wall so he very dimly could see her profile. "I don't understand why you're still talking in plural. To me it's pretty clear they won't let me fly until this whole mess is solved and as I see it now, afterwards I will be cleared off the roster because I'm a danger to all my squad mates. Believe it or not, my career's over." The distinctness with which she gave her analysis of the situation made him shudder.

"No, Captain… There has to be some possibility you haven't seen yet. You just have to have more faith in you. Well, that and the shortage of staff the Alliance has to go trough at the moment." He wasn't all sure but he could swear he had a seen a smile flutter over her face. "I've talked to D'Ar about this and he agreed with me. I'm sorry but it seems you're getting a new commander again." He shook his head. "That's just Tie. Maybe he's a good medic but he's awful when it comes to superiors. He tries to agree with them everywhere it's possible. Must be remnant of his Imperial past. Let me talk to him. I bet you're getting your flight status back sooner than you like." She shook her head and got up. Standing at the big window only her silhouette could be seen. The long hair she normally wore braided was now open and cascaded down her back to hip-length. "Tie's not the problem, Lieutenant. I noticed his inclination for pleasing his superiors, too. The snoops from Intelligence are the ones giving me the creeps. "

He walked up to her, looking out of the window as well. "Reed and Mitchum?" Surprised she nodded. "Don't worry 'bout them. They are responsible for inner security so they stick their nose in every affair they think belongs to their charge. I think they got a special attraction to our squadron since we are the ones with the most connections to the Empire and smuggling syndicates. I mean, take Randy. He had to go through five interviews before they even let him fly simulators just because his father is some minor Imperial officer. They just didn't believe he broke up with him long ago because he didn't have "evidence". Cranky, aren't they?" She ran her hands through her hair and shook her head so that little waves rippled through them. "Yeah, but that still doesn't help me. I shot a fellow Gray, so what's there more to say?"

"You did it in the heat of the moment. You were just freaked out because of Alderaan. You didn't think. Plenty of reasons to cancel even the hearing. Plus we need all the pilots we can get, and you got potential. Being your wing-man really is a pleasure. So… if you'd let me deal with Snoop and Snoopy…" She smiled again, this time with more confidence. "Thank you, Lieutenant, but I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." He smiled at her. "Maybe, but I'd like to repay you for this thing you pulled in the _Hunter_-attack. Really saved my butt out there. Besides… that's what a wing-mate is there for, backing you up and getting the neks off your tail so you can take care of the bigger fishes, isn't it?" She turned her face to him, and with every movement her hair seemed to flow. He wished he just could get his eyes off her hair, lithe figure, long fingers… "Well, if you put it this way… but I still don't find it right that _you_ deal with these guys and not me…" _Anything for a beautiful woman… Dammit, Lochlin!_ "I've got some experience with them… Dreis always let this to me, saying he had something better to do than caressing the egos of some snoops. So…" Coreena turned to the window again. "If this works… I owe you one…"

"Yah, if we possibly get any shore leave sometime, you're welcome to buy me a drink, 'kay?" She made a face and slapped him playfully on the arm. "Oh, you fly-boys…" He grinned. _Mission accomplished._ "Now, don't go there, or we might end up in a spare and I will have to let you win so you won't be disappointed." The mischievous grin playing over his face was kind of infecting as she had to grin herself. "Or I will have to let you win so your precious fly-boy ego won't take too much damage." Light-hearted they both shared a laughter.


	8. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven**

**_Liberty_, pilots cantina**

It was only two days later that Coreena Mallan got her active status back and could begin to plan the rescue mission for Kesra Devlin. She had been briefed on the information and development by Saron Kenzy and now was working on the first stage to get their squadron member and maybe even the other soldiers and civil employees back.

Her XO, who had been cleared on the same day as her, entered the pilot cantina and looked around for her. He found her sitting on a table in a corner, obviously totally wrapped up in some paper work. At his greeting she just mumbled something sounding like "Hi." and kept on tapping through some file, adding some notes here and there. He observed her for a while, noticing her concentration as she absentmindly bit her lip and started chewing on it. Her forehead creased and she was constantly playing with a lose strand of her hair. Marcus allowed himself a little smile. This woman intrigued him, as he had never experienced someone concentrating so hard on a task that he or she lost interest in everything else.

After watching her some time he finally made a move and waved his hand before her. "Control to Captain Mallan: You still with us?" Her head jerked up.

"Huh? What? Oh, yeah… you…" He made a face.

"This doesn't sound like you really wanted me here…" She put some lose strands behind her ear which helped nothing as they were coming down again immediately. Nevertheless he liked the movements her fingers had made during the little gesture.

"Oh… um… sorry, but I was so worked up…" He smiled.

"Never mind. So, why'd you call me?" She gave him some data cards and when they had been read she began to explain the facts and figures displayed.

"See, the first paragraph here is mainly a summary of what Kenzy found out, showing that an extraordinaire amount of female Alliance personnel got captured in the area of Alzoc III, the same area where the IV. Imperial Battle Group under Admiral Arvin Chesfer is operating. She obviously did some research on this guy and found out that he seems to be an expert on the field of prisoner interviews, torture and the like. To my mind he's just a disgusting pervert who likes to take advantage of females of any kinds, torturing and maybe even abusing them. We have to stop this man." He looked up and saw two different colored eyes blazing with emerald or respectively azure fire. During this short, but intense look he had quite a hard time disguising how much these eyes intrigued him. He cleared his throat.

"And the other parts…?" She looked at the data pad again and pointed at some numbers and charts.

"This one's about the latest movements of the battle group, some assumptions what their orders are at the moment, where they're going, you know the usual… Here's something 'bout past encounters with our forces, tactics and doctrines they seem to use… This one's interesting, it's about all recent pilot captures and it seems that the IV. Group has the major share in this. Some Intel crap on this, too… Well, just look it up when you got time, 'kay?" He nodded, put the cards in one of his pockets and looked at her again.

"So… you have some action planned yet?" She continued trying to tame all the red-golden strands that had escaped her braid during the hours she must have been working but they seemed to have a life of their own.

"Yes… I'm working on convincing Zifra to let us go after this man… pity we aren't an independent operating unit." He cocked an eyebrow.

"You want to convince _Zifra_ to go after a _battle group_? You are nuts, you know this?" Captain Gatton Zifra was a very cautious Captain, always well-considered, taking his time with decisions, rather running from attacks than placing his ship in danger.

"I mean…, I detected some signs of what people less in favor of him would call cowardice but… anyway, it's worth a try, don't you think? And apart from that… we don't even have official orders, and with everyone concentrated on that Death Star thing, we shouldn't turn a blind eye on other things." Coreena Mallan captured more and more parts of him. The blaze of her eyes and the way her hands had moved throughout her argumentation mesmerized him. So he turned his profile to her as fast as he could and replied:

"Yeah… maybe you should try it… if you manage to convince him… than… let's say, you… um… earned yourself a backrub, okay?" She gave him a strange look but said nothing. He felt the slight change in the atmosphere between them but this time he wouldn't let her slip away like the last time.

"So… you wanna tell me what brought you to the cause?" She leaned back and sighed, staying silent for several moments. _Obviously not the right topic, either_. But then she answered nevertheless.

"Something really silly." She told him of her mother, her fiancé, everything she'd never told anyone before.

"You're saying this guy's mother was responsible for you joining the Rebellion?" She shrugged.

"If I had been from… say… Commenor, I'd maybe joined the Academy at Prefsbelt IV. Who knows?"

"Yeah… I was there."

"Where?"

He smiled. "At Prefsbelt. I was trained by one of the Empire's major celebrities, Soontir Fel." Coreena shrugged again. "Never heard of him. And how did you get here?"

**

* * *

**

**pilots cantina, at the bar**

At the same time another pair of Grays entered the cantina. The two Kar'Esta sisters walked in and joined Randy Krennel at the little bar. Deraani was the first to see their CO and XO sitting together some tables away from them. She smiled one of her wicked smiles and said in her usual self-assure voice: "He has the hots for her." She got raised eyebrows from both of them. "Lochlin and the Cap. Just look at them. I'm not quite sure 'bout her, but _he_'s in it, full force." Now Krennel and Kara looked at them, too. They saw them talking amicably, laughing, being together just like friends.

"Rani… you're imagining it. Sure, they like each other, but love…?"

A lop-sided grin. "No, no, you have to take a closer look. See how she keeps fidgeting with her hair? And see how his eyes follow her hands? If you observe them long enough you might notice that from time to time he seems to remind himself that he's not supposed to be attracted by his CO. Look! First his eyes seemed to be glued on her face and then – puff – he takes them off so she wouldn't notice it." Randy and Kara exchanged a look she didn't miss. "You aren't hiding anything from me, are you?" Both innocently smiling, Kara answered: "Moments ago you proved that _no-one_ can hide _any_thing from you." Her sister downed her ale at one go and smiled again, now looking quite devilish. "You're damn right, little sis."

When she was about to order her second lomin-ale, the alarm klaxons began to wail through the ship.

**

* * *

**

**Fighter hangar**

When Blenwell arrived at his ship, his astromech unit Tin hooted and whistled impatiently. As fast as he could he climbed up and jumped in, trying to calm down his R5-unit in he process. "Shut up." More whistling and excited chirping. "I said, shut up!" Tin didn't obey. _But when will he ever…_, Blenwell sighed inwardly and got his fighter started. He was one of the first Grays out on the battle field. Their opponents consisted of a dreadnaught and a Corellian blockade runner which Control had identified as _Nightmare _and _Bloodshed_. As he could see it, a squadron of TIE-fighters was out there, supported by some interceptors and even bombers. He switched to the open frequency. "This is Gray Seven. How're we looking?" While waiting for an answer he caught sight of his wing-man, Tyan D'Ar and throttled up to him. He switched to group-frequency. "Eight, this is Seven. I'm taking the lead. What the hell is going on here?" His wing-man didn't answer and Marten assumed his comm-system was malfunctioning, so he switched over to the open frequency again. "Anybody else here form Gray Squadron?" He got answers from Nunb, Flann, Banon and Kenzy.

Gritting his teeth he swung behind a pair of TIE-fighter on their run on the _Liberty_'s surface. He just hoped D'Ar was getting what he had in mind and covered him. He did a barrel down and in his dive he shot the first fighter, when the second was shot by another fighter coming form right behind him. "Thought you needed some help, Seven.", a gloating Kenzy told him. He just grinned and answered with a "Me? Never!" while targeting another fighter pair, this time two interceptors. Suddenly his comm crackled and D'Ar's voice came up, constantly interrupted by static hissing.

"This… Eight… comm-system… repaired… stabilizer hit…" Blenwell allowed himself a look behind. Smoke was trailing from the left wing and D'Ar's fighter spiraled uncontrolled through space. _Damn!_ "Eight, can you hear me? Go back to the _Liberty_. You took too much damage Try to fly back, Kenzy'll take my wing."

"Not in the least, Flight Officer. You will take _mine_."

"_Stop that damn bantering, Twelve and Seven._" He broke hard to port as green laser beams were coming from behind.

"Nice you decided to join the party at last, Captain." Mallan's X-Wing did an exceptional run on a furball of eyeballs as she was doing a barrel roll and fired her lasers non-stop. It got her three kills in one run. She did not comment on Blenwell's remark, though. The next thing he heard her say, was: "Anyone wondered what the capital ships are there for? They only exchanged some shooting with the _Liberty_ but nothing else. Let's make a run on them. Gray Squadron, One Flight and Two Flight take _Nightmare_, Three Flight, you take some fighters from the Cats and take _Bloodshed_." As they began to assemble in lose formation, Control suddenly interfered.

"Control to Gray Leader. Abort your attack. These are direct orders from Captain Zifra and are not to be questioned. I repeat…" The tone all the Grays had had to experience some days ago now took on Control.

"You don't need to repeat. We're doing this run whether Zifra likes it or not. These ships belong to the IV. Battle Group and we need at least one of them captured. Mallan out." With that, Blenwell believed she had switched to the fighter squadrons' frequency. "Silver Cat and Krayt Squadron, this is Gray Leader. I suggest we change the attack coordination to the following: Cat One Flight, join Gray Three Flight, you are covering their first attack on _Bloodshed_. Once the shields are down, Krayt One Flight use your ion cannons and disable the ship. The rest of you take care of these fighters while we try to take out _Nightmare_. All leaders acknowledge."

"Gray Leader, this is Krayt Leader. We really shouldn't be messing with Control and the Cap. I suggest…"

"No, you don't. We are in a _fight_ for the Jedis' sake. We don't have _time_ to discuss. And by the way… you don't want to be renamed Coward Squadron now, do you, Krayts? Let's show Zifra what we are capable of and we will get some real missions."

While their leaders had been busy exchanging blows, their squadrons had fought hard, minimizing the fighters down to a dozen eyeballs and three or four squints. But Coreena hadn't missed Tyan D'Ar's way down to the _Liberty_ and the fireball his crash on her hull had ignited, nor had she missed Kara's punch-out and the return to the _Liberty_ of Flann's badly damaged fighter, meaning that Two Flight only consisted of two fighters now. While making the first run on the _Nightmare_'s shields she just hoped Blenwell and Banon were clever enough to react appropriately to the new situation. If they all got alive out of this she would have to do a heck of a performance analysis. She hated that.

**

* * *

**

**space around the _Liberty_**

"Twelve, this is Seven humbly requesting your assistance as a wing-mate." The mock tone of his voice made his words a farce but she could play that game, too.

"Seven, this is Twelve. Happy to be able to be any support to you. Now shut your mouth and kill that dreadnaught." With that Kenzy's X-Wing overtook his and raced down towards the surface of the _Nightmare_, doing a mad dance of twitching and sweeping to escape the dreadnaught's lasers. Blenwell just had to admire the way she seemed to always find a way through the tick mass of laser beams without difficulties while his movements cleared mirrored the efforts he had to make.

"Gray One and Two Flight, use the co-ordinates I give you know and fire two proton torpedoes on my mark." He let Tin set the co-ordinates.

"Ready, Grays?" One after one acknowledged.

"Good… three, two, one… _now_!" A volley of blue torpedoes made their way towards the shield-generators of the _Nightmare_. With a glorious bloom the generators exploded and let the ship defenseless immediately. Cheers could be heard over the comm.

"It's not over yet, peeps." And true to Mallan's word the wall of laser beams surrounding _Nightmare_ even grew thicker and the last remaining TIEs themselves on the X- and Y-Wings.

Blenwell had a hard time keeping Kenzy out of real trouble while she was eliminating the sensor phalanxes to make the cannons blind. Her shooting was utterly precise but it still needed two runs to make one half of the right side of the ships blind.

"You're not getting anywhere with that, Twelve." Her only response was a grunt and something like: "Shut up and keep your senses on those fighters. They are really starting to annoy me." Suddenly his R5 hooted and the message "_BLOODSCHED _DISABLED." appeared on his HUD. And some moments later Mallan announced: "Okay, guys, the party is over. Retreat from _Nightmare_, she's gonna blow in some moments and we got what we wanted. I repeat, all fighters retreat from _Nightmare_ and concentrate on _Bloodshed_." As fast as he could, Blenwell pulled back from _Nightmare_ and watched with satisfaction how the explosions started to consummate her hull.


	9. Chapter Eight

**A/N:** Again huge thanks to Mariko Duknic who read all 7 chapters up to know and still wants to know how the story continues ^_^ Um… I don't believe it myself but that's everything I have to say at the moment… Must be my muse taking a little vacation from the story… I hope she's back when I want to go on writing…

****

**Chapter Eight**

This time it was Coreena who waited anxiously before a superior's office. While she was standing there at relax, she saw Saron Kenzy approaching her. She sneered. "Coming to gloat, lieutenant?" Kenzy tilted her head a little. 

"No, to wish you luck. You gonna need it with Zifra… maybe you even make it out alive…" 

"Oh, thank you very much. Very moral-raising." Kenzy patted her shoulder lightly. 

"Believe me, the whole squadron is with you in this moment. And we all only wish the best to you." Coreena grinned humorless. 

"Yeah, go tell it to a stormtrooper." At this Kenzy rolled her eyes. 

"No, really. They don't want you to get fired, they start to like you…" The door of Zifra's office opened and lieutenant Gandor Te'sillekk from Silver Cat Squadron emerged. He just gave her a sympathetic look and hurried down the corridor. Then a sharp voice from inside the door called: "Captain Coreena Mallan!" After a last look at Kenzy and a rearrangement of her pressure suit and hair Coreena entered the office with as much self-confidence she could offer at the moment. She snapped to attention before the man behind the desk and saluted. 

"Captain Coreena Mallan, reporting as ordered." The man nodded. 

"At ease." He sifted through some data cards lying before him on the desk and stopped as he obviously got the right one, pushing it into his data-pad. 

"Hm… let's see. Captain Coreena Mallan, born on Alderaan – my condolences, captain – served with Claw Squadron, the Yellow Aces, Ghorman Squadron and Green Squadron… That's quite a lot for only three years of service. I wonder for what you got your promotions. Obeying orders properly was clearly not one of the reasons. So…" He looked up again and folded his hands over the data-pad. "I suppose, you know what you are here for?" She nodded. 

"Yes, sir." He began to sift again. 

"Do you have to say anything to this?" She swallowed before she answered, then dug out her most confident voice. 

"Yes, sir. I have strong evidence that the general commanding the battle group where those two ships who attacked us belonged to is responsible for the main part of the captures the Alliance had to suffer over the last three or four months. This man has to be stopped or we will lose more personnel, and we can't afford any loses. So I believed that we or the Intelligence that is need more information about this battle group which was accomplished with capturing the _Bloodshed_." Zifra looked up again, this time his eyes were filled with something that was slyness mixed with real detest. 

"You are saying, you wanted to risk _my_ ship to accomplish a _personal_ mission?" She shook her head, still trying to look poised. 

"No, sir. I wanted to show you the importance of the matter and the competence of your fighter squadrons. And if I may remind you: The ships being mostly in the danger zone where the _fighters_, not the frigate." 

"You want me to add impertinence to the reproach of insubordination?" 

"Sir, you don't understand it. While we are discussing here, Chesfer might be torturing one or even more of fellow Rebels. We have to _do_ something!" This was too much. She had crossed the border and she realized it in the same moments his eyes literally targeted her. 

"But not with _my_ ship and _my_ crew and _my_ fighter squadrons! Any more remark like this will get you kicked out here for good. Now leave this office at once or I will personally throw you out of here!" Coreena Mallan recognized a fit of rage when she saw one and this threatened to become one of the worst she had ever seen. Throwing him a quick salute she turned on her heel and was out of his office in less than one second.

Lochlin knocked at her door, but got no response. He tried it again. After the third approach he began to worry. "Captain? Is everything okay? I know you are in there, your light's on. Come on, Cap…" He knocked again and this time the door slid open. A groggy looking Coreena Mallan in a lose-fitting sweater and track pant stood behind it and tried to ban her tousled hair from her face. "What the hell is it?" He could feel his face go red. 

"Oh… um… captain… I'm sorry to disturb you but you really had me worried here, not answering my knocks…" To be honest she had scared the living bantha-poodoo out of him. 

"Sorry, lieutenant… I just didn't hear it… Now, why'd you come?" He shoved his hands in his pockets, just to do anything against this growing uneasiness. 

"I just… I just wanted to ask how it went with Zifra. I recall Randy saying something like "She looked like the death goddess of Gyndine when she stormed past me…", he said. A smile crept over her face and lit up her sleepy eyes a bit. 

"He said that?" Lochlin laughed. 

"Yes…" And then she realized they couldn't have a serious talk "between door and floor". 

"Oh… Marcus… I'm sorry… Please come in, will you?" At first he only realized she had called him by his first name, and only after several more seconds he noticed she had been inviting him in. Somewhat reluctantly he stepped in and looked around a little helplessly when the door closed. She gestured toward the only chair in the room and said: "Please take a seat. I hope you don't mind if I take the bed again." He only shook his head and saw her sit down with crossed legs on the upper bunk. She took the blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders, pulling out her hair and laying it over her shoulder in a thick twisted plaid. She looked so much younger now. 

"So… what exactly happened?" She shrugged. 

"He made a nice comment on my career so far, asked me if I had something to say on the case – which I had but he couldn't foresee that, reminded me what I did to his ship, didn't listen to what I had to say about Chesfer, threatened to fire me if I ever said anything more about this guy and then throw me out of his office." The nonchalance of her voice was betraying her real feelings, and he somehow could sense it. 

"And what do you think is he going to do now?" Again she shrugged but he could see the anger already building up in her eyes. 

"Dunno. File a complaint 'bout my behavior, apply for my transfer or even discharge… but with all this fuss about this death star thing and Alderaan he won't have that much success at the moment and I can only hope he will listen to me the next time I'm meeting him." She leaned her head back. "I'm gonna have so much fun with this guy. If he lets me stay, that is. Force, this is tiring me more than a fight, you can imagine this?" 

"Well, being dressed down is surely more exhausting than dressing others down." She could see where he was aiming at.

"Hey, compared to what he did my talk with Kenzy was chit-chat, okay?" He snorted lightly.

"Oh, and you didn't happen to have that "chit-chat" with her because of the same reason you were "dressed down" by Zifra?"

"Hey, she was placing herself and her ship in danger for a lost cause…"

"And placing _us_ in danger is better, yes?" He didn't like this. What had started out as a casual talk between CO and XO seemed to evolve in a downright fight. 

"Zifra wasn't concerned about _us_, he was concerned about his _ship_­­ and his _authority_. _We_ didn't mean anything to him as do the prisoners. He didn't even want to hear what evidence I had and what the sources were. With taking the initiative I wanted to show him what we were capable of but the truth is he is not interested the least in us pilots. He just wants to keep his ship out of trouble by any means. We will be running until the end of times and all the women in Chesfer's hands will die unnoticed and will be forgotten if we don't _do_ anything. I… I just feel so helpless. I wish we were an independent unit so we could just quit our assignment here and look for a new home but we are _chained_ to this ship and Kesra and all the others will have to suffer because of this. Don't _you_ understand me at least?" Her passionate little speech didn't change all of his mind but he surely could understand her action now a little better. And to be honest… he had been happy to finally be able to do more than just scratching the shield of some Impship and then scoop away like a coward. 

"Well…  a little, yes." She looked away, drawing her knees toward her and circling them with her arms. 

"And what does the rest of the squadron think?" He smiled. 

"They were happy to blow something up at last. And they are eager to do some more blowing up." Coreena looked at him again, giving him a half-smile. 

"Moral's diminished a bit though, I take it?" 

"Because of Tie, you think? I think they haven't quite realized he's gone because he was a quiet one, never drawing too much attention to him. And if everything is going to happen at all his death will strengthen their will to fight back. What's concerning me more is that we have ten pilots but only nine ships. If Flann's is repairable, that is. What are we going to do about this?" 

She yawned and stretched almost delightfully, then said: "Lieutenant Te'sillekk from Silver Cat Squad told me they lost three pilots but could rescue one X-Wing they don't need at the moment. I think the time being until Kara's fit to fly again should be enough for a quick repainting and some repairs. Speaking of Kara… how is she?" He leaned his chin on the back of the chair. 

"Stable, they told me. But one of her knee joints needs to be replaced. They said it's a common problem with bacta allergy. Hopefully Kara or Deraani won't have too much severe crashes or they will consist more of mechanic than organic parts sooner or later." She nodded. 

"What about Flann?" 

"Got a mild concussion and some minor burns on his hands. One night in sick bay and he's up and happy again. And what about you, captain?" She hadn't expected this question. Sure she had noted that he cared about her, maybe even more than just an XO caring about his CO, but she clearly didn't _look_ that beaten up, now did she? 

"I'm fine, lieutenant. Really." He grinned.

"Yeah, sure and I'm the Emperor's son. Zifra's little lecture did more to you than you want to admit. I've seen this look in my own eyes, cap." If it was possible she seemed to tighten even more. 

"Look, lieutenant… It's just… I so much want to help, I want to _fight_. Alderaan didn't do anything against the Empire except _speaking_ and _writing_ and look what it got them. We should have stood up so much earlier. We had the _power_ to do it, we were honored and trusted all over the galaxy, we had charismatic leaders… You know… I once met Leia Organa when she was like 16 or something. My mother had arranged the meeting and I could speak to her for a little while. She seemed so much older than me, so much more responsible. I don't know what would have happened if we had had weapons but we surely wouldn't have let the Death Star blow us out of space so easily." 

"The Death Star's been destroyed some hours ago, if that's any consolation, cap. It won't harm any more planets.", he said almost calmingly.

"Yeah, I heard that, too. Great thing Antilles and that Skywalker kid did but it's not the ultimate victory. The Empire's still there and wreaking havoc on this galaxy and it's driving me crazy." She lay down and propped her head up on her right arm. He thought she looked like she was going to fall asleep any minute. 

"I understand it, captain. But don't let this become something personal. Don't turn this into your personal revenge quest. Your squadron deserves more than just to be the instrument of your wrath. And it would be a waste of their and your capabilities. Sure Chesfer needs to be stopped but always think of the price. Don't let it rise too high, you might find yourself not being able to pay it. Captain?" Her head way lying on the pillow, her eyes were closed and her breathing was regular. She had visibly fallen asleep. He stood up. "Obviously I'm not much of a speaker." Almost tentatively he took a step forward and was standing with his face approximately 30 centimeters away from her. He lifted his hand and was about to caress her cheek when his senses finally kicked in and he almost forced his hand down. So instead of touching her he just whispered: "Ignore what I said before. We will get them, whatever it costs." At that she stirred lightly and her blanket half fell down. Careful not to wake her he took it and covered her ever so lightly. 

A smile crept over her face and she mumbled in her sleep: "G'dnight, mum." _I'm so sorry for you._ Retreating to the door he whispered tenderly: "Good night and pleasant dreams to you, captain." 

This time she was not going away so easy. She just knew it. When the door opened and the storm troopers came in, followed by Chesfer, Kesra's stomach seemed to collapse. She just prayed he wouldn't pick her, but luck was against her. _Again_. She didn't even look up this time. She closed her large black eyes and began to recite hunter songs and poems from her people. Last time it had helped a bit and she hadn't given away anything in the short time she had been conscious. 

After what seemed a small eternity, she was thrown into the windowless half-lit room she had come to fear from the last time. The only thing in there coming close to furniture was something like a table with straps on it but in truth was a moveable plate where prisoners were strapped on. And yes, the procedure began as an assistant of Chesfer's was punching a button and the plate moved into an upright position. She was strapped there, but she didn't flinch like last time. It had gotten her a nasty slap by one of the ordnances. When they were ready the slight humming of several repulsor-lifts filled her sensitive ears. _The torture droid._ Then, when everything was settled, Chesfer entered the room. He didn't take his time, but went directly up to her and stopped right in front of her. She hadn't lifted up her head but she saw his black flawless shining boots and the sight made her almost vomit. It had been boots like these who had kicked her consciousness out of her when they had "welcomed" her aboard the _Hunter_.

"So… I hope you will be a little more cooperative now than the last time." Kesra lifted her head finally. Chesfer's face looked self-conscious and cold as always. "And if not… you haven't get to know what these precious little thing can do by far, animal." He smiled a predator's smile toward the torture droid who hung motionless in the air right behind him. "Well, let's start with an easy question… Are there any rebel bases in this sector?" Although she knew which tortures this would produce she remained silent. As Chesfer gestured for the droid behind him, the thing came up and painfully slow made its way toward her, the injection needle's tip glistening in the dim light. Kesra closed her eyes. _Not truth serum, not truth serum, not_… "truth serum…" Her eyes flew open. She hadn't said anything, had she? "Ah it's working already. Take a note on this, lieutenant, that might be useful for later interrogations. Well, if she's making it through this one, that is. Anyway… will you answer my question now?" _Nonononononono…_

"Ye….Ye… Ye…" He grinned and touched his chin briefly. "I take that as yes. Now… are there an rebel bases in this sector?" _Intel Briefings… think of Intel briefings…_

"Keh… keh ashu…jema… kashuty… keh ashu…" The grin faltered.

"What rubbish are you throwing at me, you animal?" Someone from behind cleared his throat and said: "Uh, sir… This is supposed to be its "language"… uh… I try to find a translation…" Chesfer turned around to Kesra again. "You answer my question now!" The Rodian again went into battle against herself, and this time she was a hair's breadth away from breaking down. 

"Y… Y… Yanush… Y… Yanush… eqai… atut…" It earned her a slap from Chesfer and another injection from the droid. She thought it had been truth serum again, but was taught otherwise when an unbearable pain spread through her body from her left arm. She let out an anguished cry and starred wild-eyed at Chesfer. "Oh, yes, my precious pet, this was something really brilliant. The chemical which was injected into your body shut down your endorphin production, meaning your pain sensors can't stop sending information to your body _and_ it enhanced their sensitivity. This is just great, isn't it?" Through the excruciating pain still pulsing through her body Kesra only understand few words but she had noticed what the chemicals did nonetheless. "_Now_ lets start a _real_ interrogation." 

Running. She was just running. This felt better than even beating the dummy. _Or Blenwell._ Saron didn't know how long she had been using the treat mill for now, only knew she felt better with every kilometer she let behind her. She didn't notice the room's door open until the person who entered addressed her. "You know, this thing's not your own." Frowning she stopped and looked at the grinning face of Deraani Kar'Esta. Lifting an eyebrow she just said: "Huh?" Deraani laughed.

"Must have been this runner's high thing they were talking about 'couple of years ago. I was just asking you in a very politely manner that I intend to use this thing myself." Now it was Kenzy's time to grin. 

"Sorry, I've mistaken your remark for being something of a declaration about the ownership of it." Deraani smiled again and said down on one of the weight-lifting benches. 

"May I ask you a question, lieutenant?" Kenzy left the treat mill and walked up to the Devaronian. 

"Yeah, well, if it's nothing personal…" Deraani cleared her throat. 

"Actually it _was_ a personal question… but if you hadn't planned to answer one anyway…" Kenzy sat down beside Deraani. Despite the dislike she had for people who liked to spread gossip faster than a Hutt executed his rivals, the older Kar'Esta sister had something to her that made her liked by a broad variety of people. 

"Well… nobody can hide anything very long from you so just ask. You would have found out about whatever you are going to ask, anyway." The woman displayed a certain grin that made her look real devilish. 

"Okay… well… all of us have been wondering what you did before joining Starfighter command. It's quite obvious you didn't start your service with it. So… what was it?" Kenzy considered answering something like "Sorry, that's classified." for a moment but that would be lying to a comrade, and she had her principles. 

"I was a commando officer. Most of my work is classified, so I can't tell much. And I would prefer it if you don't prey on this anymore." Deraani looked at the lieutenant and saw something in her eyes that convinced even her – _Liberty_'s gossip queen extraordinaire – that it was better to left some things untold. 

"Lieutenant… whatever happened to you in your commando time… it's time you should let it behind. And you should start mixing up with the squadron more, become a _real_ member. It does nobody good if you keep detaching yourself from people. Maybe people would like you more if you gave them more opportunities to get to know you better…"

"If you haven't noticed until now, flight officer, I don't care about people liking me or not. All I want to do is my job and nothing else. As far everything else is concerned, just leave me alone. Don't bother me, and I won't bother you." With that she stood up again, gathered her things and went out of the room. Deraani Kar'Esta just smiled. She had found a real challenge here.


	10. Chapter Nine

**A/N: **Well, chapter 9 and still Mariko is the only one who reviews… You should look up to her, at least she doesn't give me the feeling my story's totally insignificant on ff.net… so, if anyone apart from Mariko reads it be brave and REVIEW!!!!!!!! As long as it's not meant to simply flame me I welcome _every_ suggestion. Oh, and by the way, maybe you want to have a look at Gray Squadron's second virtual home, http://besu.ch/TheHaven (no, I'm not Swiss, they were just the best provider for a short-domain name *g). At the moemnt I'm working on the art section and could use some nice character art and a cover… if anyone feels compelled to do, just mail me, 'kay? Now, on with the story.

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**Chapter Nine**

_Lifeday on Alderaan. A festival of light, music, colors and most of all_ life. _It was the holiday every kid on Alderaan, every adolescent, every adult, every_ being _on Alderaan waited for the whole year. Presents for the young, art, theatre, concerts for the old. Fun, joy… _

_"Coreena, where are you, dear?", a tall slender woman with long flowing red hair called over the crowded main plaza of the University of Alderaan. A little girl with the same hair color – maybe only a little brighter than the woman's – turned away from one of the many stalls selling all kind of sweets, colored ribbons, lanterns and the like and came running towards the woman trying to keep her skirt away from the plaza's fine dust. _

_"I'm here, mum!" The woman scooped her up in her arms and whirled her around. _

_"Did you see something you liked?" The girl nodded eagerly, bobbing her head up and down with bright eyes. _

_"Oh yes, mum, over there they had such cute stuffed Wookie dolls. Oh_ please, _mum." The woman nodded at the antics of her daughter. _

_"Well, it's Lifeday… and you haven't had your present yet…" The eyes of the little girl seemed to grow even larger as the woman opened her purse. She took out some coins and laid them into the small children's fist. The eyes of her daughter shone with delight. _

_"Oh, mum…" _

_Laughing the woman gave her daughter a light slap on the back and said: "Off you go… and pick a real cute one…" Grinning from ear to ear the girl ran and looked behind her. The face of her mother was smiling at her… but suddenly the smile faltered and the face contorted into a horrible mask of fear and pain. It seemed to be burned away and the surroundings changed into a living hell as fire suddenly seemed to be everywhere. People were screaming and running around if they had all gone insane in an instant. The little girl who had been happy a few seconds before now was screaming as well, just couldn't take away her eyes from what happened to her mother, couldn't stop screaming, screaming…_

Sweating and panting Coreena jerked up. She needed some seconds to orientate herself and convince herself that it had just been a nightmare, nothing else, just a dream. _Just a dream, like in all of the ten days since Alderaan… disappeared and that other incident…_ She put her face into her hands. She hadn't told Marcus the entire truth. It hadn't been only the run-in with Zifra that had her tired out so much, it were also the nightmares, haunting her every single night. Maybe he knew she had had some nightmares during her time in the hospital but she hadn't bothered to tell him they still hadn't subsided. _Why should I? It's not that he's my mother or anything…_, which was completely the wrong thing of her to think about because it made her cry immediately. Before Alderaan had ceased to exist she only needed to look at a little 2D-holo of her mother to cheer her up. Now she couldn't do even that because it made everything only worse. 

Ragged sobs escaped her mouth and she somehow wished Lochlin would come around and wake her from _this_ nightmare, too. Then she remembered something stuffed away deep down in her duffle bag. She jumped from the bed and pulled it out from the closet. Digging through it she got what she was looking for. An old battered looking Wookie doll who had seen better days but was one of her oldest friends. She looked at it and squeezed it to her body, feeling the soft fur in her chin. Right now it seemed the only thing in the universe connecting her with home. _Home…_ Another wave of tears rolled down her face and she crawled into her bed again, hugging Hikkaruk as tight as possible to her.

It seemed only seconds later when the alarm on her chrono went on. She jerked up again, feeling worse than before going to be. Groaning, she laid Hikka away and gathered a flight suit and her shower things from the closet. After a short brush she pulled her hair into a simple pony tail and left her quarters for a short shower and the patrol afterwards. 

"Good morning, cap. Or good evening, depending on your point of view." Marcus grinned, but the grin faded as she just shot him a short look and mumbled something like "Whatever, lieutenant." He could see she obviously hadn't slept very well and wondered if there was something she didn't tell him. _Then again, why should she? It's not that I'm her mother or something…_

"Good morning to you, oh mighty COs.", a sheepishly grinning Jaris Banon called out and sat down with his tray beside Marcus. "Yeah, well, you don't have to talk to a meager little flight officer."

Two heads jerked up and they both said in unison: "Huh?", causing Banon to first look puzzled and then break out into a middle-sized laughing fit. Raising their eyebrows, they shared a quizzical look. "This was just too good…" Trying to be serious again, Banon coughed and set his mouth to a firm line. After some seconds of odd silence Coreena raised her head again and finally asked: "Excuse me, flight officer, we didn't quite get the joke. What in the stars was so funny?" 

Jaris coughed and tried to stifle a grin, then said: "Oh… I just… um… won a bet." Coreena threw Marcus a look that was even more confused, then looked back at Jaris but said nothing. Realizing the ground became hotter Jaris quickly finished his breakfast, went up and backed away. When he finally was out of hearing range Coreena turned to Marcus and said: "Lieutenant, I know that you what this was about just now. So… would you mind telling me?" She noticed that he took a second time before answering, doing a quick scan around the canteen. 

Then he coughed and said, carefully choosing his words: "Gray Squadron has a reputation of being the nosiest and most gossiping squadron in Starfighter Command. They tend to interpret much too much  into meaningless little encounters or actions…" She didn't hear him out and barged in, sounding rather annoyed if not infatuated: "Are you trying to tell me in a diplomatic way that the both of us are the squadron's hottest topic at the moment? That they are betting on us?" If she hadn't been so upset about the whole affair – most of all about herself for not noticing it – she would have found his immediately flushing red quite amusing. He almost stammered: "I'm sorry, captain… I know, I should have told you, but…" Again she didn't want to hear him out. She somehow knew that he hadn't told her partly because the squadron was right, at least a bout him having more than only professional or friendly feelings for her. 

"I don't want to hear it, lieutenant. Just tell the squadron I want them in the briefing room at 1300 and not a second later. This needs some handling." He gulped and nodded. "Yes… ma'am." With a last nod she stood up and left the table.

"Hello, young Rodian huntress. Can you hear me? Do you understand what I'm saying?" 

Slowly Kesra opened her big black eyes and starred at the face above her. Somehow the human face framed with blond hair seemed familiar to Kesra but she just couldn't place it. Heck, she even couldn't place _herself_. "Well, at least you are awake, unless this is some Rodian sleep pattern I don't know. Anyway… you know you have been really lucky?" The face disappeared and some moments later suddenly excruciating pain shot through her body. She moaned and twisted but the restraints on her wrists and knuckles held her in place. As she became aware of them all the memories from the interrogation came back and she felt her whole body revolting. Something inside of her snapped and she felt a strength she had never known before. It was the strength a being felt just before the moment of death. With all she had left she pressed against the restraints and when she eventually felt them snap open she jumped from the hover bed and looked around with wild eyes. Finally she saw something.

A human standing opposite to her, only few meters away, pressed against the white durasteel wall. She didn't hear what the human was saying, she only felt the pain inside her body and saw the pictures before her eyes. It had been humans who had tortured her with this pain and the one who incensed it again was a human, too. In her blaze of fury and pain it was the only connection she needed. She staggered toward the human, becoming more agitated with every step. Then, when she almost had the human a strange sensation flooded through her mind. She felt weak and light and the only thing left from the terrible pain was a dull aching, a light throbbing, nothing of importance…

With a thud the unconscious Rodian's body hit the floor. Sighing with relieve Ilara Kardian crouched down and finally injected the chemical which eliminated the one that had caused the young woman such pain. "I tell you, dear… this job ain't worth the pay…"

Just as Saron Kenzy was about to finally fix that starboard stabilizer that had been bugging her for almost two weeks now her comm beeped. Just a little bit annoyed she answered it. "Kenzy here. It better be something important…"

"Mallan here. And next time you're answering your comm better watch your language, it might be someone further up the chain of command next time it rings." Sarcasm was evident in Mallan's voice. Kenzy coughed. "I'm sorry, ma'am, I just…"

"No time for chit-chat, lieutenant. To my quarters, now. And bring everything you have on Chesfer. Mallan out." Startled she looked at the comm in her hand. Whatever had pissed off Mallan it must have had severe bruises now. _If Mallan is anything like me_, she added mentally. Sighing she gave her R2-unit Wack a friendly slap and said: "Sorry, pal, you have to finish this on your own." The little droid made some whistles and warps. "Cap wants to see me." Wack let out his "be careful" sound and she nodded. "Will do. See what you can do until I'm back, 'kay?" Without waiting for Wack's answer she set off for her quarters to gather her things about Chesfer. 

When she arrived some 5 minutes later Mallan was standing in her doorway and impatiently taping wit her right foot. "What took you so long, lieutenant?" Without reporting as ordered Kenzy exhaled once and then said: "I was in the hangar when you called, captain so I had to go to my room first to fetch the data cards." Looking a bit more like her usual self now, Mallan just nodded and led Kenzy in. Offering her the chair Mallan took place on the upper bunk. "Two questions before we begin: Did Lieutenant Lochlin tell you of the meeting in one hour?" Kenzy nodded. "Yes, and I think the rest of the squadron got it, too. And your second question…?" 

Mallan let out a breath and then said: "How much does the squadron suspect between me and Lieutenant Lochlin?" 

At first Kenzy didn't get the question. "Between you and Lochlin…?" 

Mallan glared at her. "You heard right. What do they think our relationship is like?" Kenzy considered everything she had squadron mates overheard saying, had seen herself between Lochlin and their captain, had talked about with other people from the squadron and finally said: "Well… you see… it's not easy… but after all I know… they find it likely that you two become… um…involved in the near future…" Only her eyes were betraying the emotions of Coreena Mallan to an observer. "This has to stop. Something like this nearly ruined my career shortly after it had barely started. I want nothing of this in my squadron, is this clear? No bets on me or other squadron members, no gossiping, no "interpreting", not even guessing. And I want you and Lochlin to help me push this through the squadron. I've talked about this to Lieutenant Lochlin, so he already knows about this. And before you ask: This is an order and I want it to be followed. Did I make myself clear?" Kenzy nodded. It must have been a very low career blow that the captain got so serious about a little bit of gossip… and well, the squadron's main entertainment since they had first seen Mallan and Lochlin together in the canteen. "Good. Now let's get it on with this Chesfer thing. Zifra doesn't want to hear about him? Well, then he's going to have to read it. Lochlin is not familiar with the stuff so you have to help me to get a report together which even convinces _him_." Mallan jumped from the bed and walked over to the small desk at the wall opposite the bunks. She picked up a data pad and slid in a data card. Then she tipped on her screen and suddenly numbers and letters hung in the air. Mallan first looked at Kenzy, then clasped her hands and finally said: "Let's do some writing."

When she awoke this time it was slow, like the first time. Kesra opened one eye, then the other. This time the room was dark and her ears detected no sounds whatsoever. She tried to move her fingers and found it easy. Then she realized that she could move more than just her fingers. She lifted her hands and looked at them, at first not fully understanding what had happened. Slowly and still half dazed from the sedatives she got up, feeling dizzy as the room spun for a second or two. Moaning she put a big hand over her eyes, trying to figure out why she was still in the infirmary and not back in her cell or even worse. Were they keeping her here out of medical reasons? Were they…

"Good morning. I hope you enjoyed your night." At the same moment as the voice began speaking to her the lights in the room went on an blinded her for a moment until her eyes had adjusted. She turned in the direction from where the voice had come and found the human from before standing there with a small silvery glistening Imperial standard officers' blaster pointed at Kesra. The human – a woman – Kesra now finally remembered must have had noticed her quick frightened glance at the blaster and said, after a look herself: "That's just a precaution. If you stay calm nothing will happen. They made me take this thing, an I sincerely hope I don't have to use it." Kesra frowned shortly and then chose to draw her legs up to her chin and stay in this defiant posture. "You still playing the silent one? Well, that's okay by me… I'll tell you how you ended up here anyway. I eventually could persuade them that you needed further care, and I don't know why but when Chesfer got word of this whole incident he decided to make you his new favorite toy so I got my wish granted. I don't know if you understand his, being a soldier and all but I once swore I'd never harm a patient intentional or unintentional, and I will stick to that. Stars, why do I even tell you this? Probably you don't even understand me…"

"I do.", came back a croaked whisper and Kardian looked genuinely surprised. "You… oh… I… you even… can speak…" Kesra felt the grudge growing again. This Imperials were all the same, male or female, soldier or civilian, doctor or stormtrooper. "We have a language. That you don't understand it doesn't necessarily mean we can't speak at all." The doctor flushed red with embarrassment and run a hand through her short blond hair. Kesra noted that she had lowered her blaster in the process. And with that she also had let down her guard. Faster than any human could react Kesra curled out of her posture and jumped at Kardian. 

In her life before the Rebels she had been a slave and a warrior. It was time to abandon the slave and let out the warrior again. With a few moves she had her arm at the doctor's throat and held the woman's right arm twisted at her back. A firm grip on her wrist made Kardian let the blaster fall down. Still holding Kardian's arm at her back, Kesra quickly gathered the blaster and held it at Kardian's temple. 

"You will be my ticket out of here.", she hissed with every once of resentment she had bottled up inside. To her surprise Kardian made approaches to shake her head. "I will be nothing apart from your ticket to the execution commando. I'm expandable, like every Imperial soldier." 

Kesra considered this and remembered what the other prisoners had said about Ilara Kardian. "How could you become chief medic at the rank of a lieutenant if you are no-one's protégé or even favorite? Someone aboard this ship surely likes you." Kardian again shook her head and said through her clenched teeth: "Desra Tellik kind of fancies me. I hate him. And he will find a new damsel in distress who needs supporting. Believe me when I say I'm expandable." This did nothing to convince Kesra and Kardian knew it. It wouldn't have convinced her either if she was in a situation like the Rodian. So she grabbed for her last resort and said: "They will execute you whether I'm with you or not. And if I survive it the least they will do is keeping a constant guard whenever I treat someone of you. The only reason that all of you survived for so long was that I had the permission to do it alone. I could use medicine a normal prisoner never would have came even near. I _never_ let any of you die, not on orders and not arbitrary, I swear. Everyone that died was either to severely wounded or fell from he grace of Chesfer. I swear I treated everyone of you with everything I had at my disposal." At this Kesra eventually lowered the blaster a little and loosened the grip on Kardian's arm. She didn't know how but the little speech had sounded genuine. 

"How do I know you aren't lying to turn me over to the henchmen once I released you?" Kardian let out a little humorless laugh. "You are right, you can never be sure, most of all if your opponent is your arch enemy. I… I will try to prove it. There… there is one woman in your group… human, with shoulder long brown hair, average height, green eyes…" Kesra nodded and said: "Kat Deira, yes." Kardian chocked and went on with her explanation. "That's her name? Anyway… she was brought here three weeks ago or something. When I treated her after her first interrogation something terrible happened. I was giving her some sedatives and some vitamins and suddenly blood came gushing out from between her legs. As I found out minutes later she had been pregnant at that time. Whatever Chesfer had done to her, it had caused a miscarriage. She would have died of shock and blood loss if it hadn't been for me. I could have let her die at this day, claiming I didn't have left any blood conserves which weren't vital for our own forces or denying her immediate first aid bacta treatment with the same explanation. I didn't do it because I swore an oath and I stick to that, whatever my orders are or my superiors expect from me as a good Imperial officer." Kesra knew of this story. H'sishi had told her when she had found Deira weeping silently and couldn't find any access to her. Deira had cried for her never born child and its father who never even knew of it. 

The Ishi Tip had also told her about the doctor who apparently had helped Deira and had kept her in the infirmary long enough to let her almost fully recover from the terrible experience at least physically. And she had stated the incident more or less two weeks ago. Though still not fully trusting the surgeon lieutenant Kesra finally released her from her grip but kept the blaster pointing at her. "But why should you keep me alive and unreported? I assaulted you…" Kardian shortly raised her eyebrows. "Good question. My answer is that I will let you go unreported if you give me my blaster back immediately and never do this again. Oh, and you should call yourself lucky that there aren't any surveillance cameras in here because Tellik doesn't like to be seen naked by too man people. Anyway… give me back the blaster and I will be able to treat you as before. If not… here's a nice little button I just have to press and a full stormtrooper squad will storm the room in less than 2 minutes." Her hand hovered dangerously low over a button to her right. Kesra shortly considered all her options and the finally hesitantly handed the blaster's handle over to the doctor. The doctor took it as careful as possible and laid it aside with a clearly disgusted face. Noticing Kesra had seen it Kardian just shrugged and said: "Hated that thing from the first time on the shooting range. Always was the worst shooter there."


	11. Chapter Ten

**A/N: **Now look at that… _two_ chapters on one day… I'm good, ain't I ^_^?

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**Chapter Ten**

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Feeling exhausted Coreena took off her helmet and leaned her head on the rest behind her. Kalidor, or short Kal, her R2-unit must have heard her loud and excessive sigh because he whooped a worried reply. She opened her eyes again and said in an assuring tone: "No, nothing's wrong, Kal. I just feel a little bit tired." The droid responded with a short series of whoops and whistles. "Yes, I know that it was just a short escort run, but I just…" This time Kal's signals sounded more like a mother bird cooing to its children. "Yes, I _did_ get my demanded time of sleep. And don't go on that "mother bird" behavior again. Now… if you could have a look at the comm system, I'll join you in… say… here hours?" The droid gave her a negative. She sighed. "Well… two hours? No?" An affirmative. "One? Still not enough? Now look I gotta have a _shower_ at least… what have you done to the environment controls anyway…?" Kal interrupted her, now giving her the amount of time he thought was appropriate. "_Eight_ hours? You can't be serious about this… What do you mean by "Not being reasonable"?" Some warbles, some whoops. "Oh come on…"

"The droid's right, Cap. Get some sleep.", came suddenly a voice from below her. She looked down to see Lieutenant Marcus Lochlin standing there. Frowning she said: "Now you, too? What's this sleep thing about, huh?" Instead of answering her climbed up her ladder and leaned in to her, grinning and saying: "Ever looked in a mirror in the last ten days, Cap? You look _aw_ful." She gave him a slight shove which made him lose his balance and made him fall to the ground where he landed on his backside. While he was grumbling and rubbing his bottom she was finally climbing down the ladder with a broad and self-satisfied grin. When she was down on the ground she gave him an almost arrogant smile and said: "Womanizer rule number one: _Never_ ever tell a woman how bad she looks. Or at least try to mantel it with a compliment." With that she padded his shoulder and went past him without another look. He just hoped no other squad member had seen this.

When she was finally done with showering and mastering various stacks of data work Coreena collapsed onto her bed and buried herself deep under her blanket. Lochlin had been _so_ right. She looked and felt like a complete wreck whatever different she had told the medics and XO and squad mates and what else. It wasn't the escort duties or the patrols or the dull data work that were wearing her out like this. It were those nightmares she kept having. Nightmares about Alderaan being destroyed again and again and her being forced to witness it or even be on the planet at this time, nightmares of shooting Marcus… and then those strange visions she kept having since her 20th birthday and never had quite ceased. Someone dark was speaking to her, in a voice she felt more than she heard it, saying something about a "dark side" and "the force" and other frightening things she didn't want to think of right now. This was all so confusing. 

And then her strange relationship with Marcus. She had to admit that he was the one she was closest to in the squadron, maybe apart from Kenzy, but she kept telling herself it was just a normal relationship between CO and XO, everything professional. It _had_ to be like this, she could not forbid her squadron to voice any suspicions if they weren't hundred percent wrong. 

Just as she was about to finally drifting off to sleep someone rapped on her door. "Go away.", she mumbled and just hoped the visitor would assume she had fallen asleep. But no, the knock sounded again. "I said, go away.", she called. Why, oh why did people on this ship preferably disturb her when she felt like she had gotten a little of her peace back. And 'lo, there was the third rap. Grunting with frustration she threw away her blanket and jumped down from her bed. When the door opened a familiar face appeared in the doorframe. "Do you have sixth sense for the time most inconvenient to rap at someone's door, lieutenant?" 

Lochlin's grin faltered as he saw her wearing the clothes he recognized as her bed clothes. "Oh I… I'm sorry to have disturbed you, captain. I just… I just thought you might want to join the squadron. It's Randy's 19th birthday and he's throwing a round or two at the cantina…" She moaned inwardly. She was in absolutely no mood to socialize with the squadron and she told him so. "Well, Cap, it's just that you _never_ seem to want to "socialize" with our squadron. People are starting to get annoyed with it. I mean, Dreis was not much of a "socializer" himself but at least he showed up at every birthday party someone of us threw and even shared some sabacc or drinking rounds with us…" 

She ragged her hair and said: "I don't gamble and I don't drink. Apart from that I'd just spoil everyone's fun at the moment. When I said I don't feel like socializing right now I meant it. I'm not much of a conversationalist at the moment. I'm just… tired, lieutenant." He leaned at the doorframe with his right arm. When he spoke again his tone had changed from cheerful to worried. "Are you sure you don't want to tell me anything, Cap? I mean… I'm your XO, at least _I_ should know if something beyond the normal duties is distressing you." _I swear, if he's ever using this trick on me again, I' gonna knock him out…_ "Lieutenant…" She turned her face away from him but he followed her gaze, leaning in even more. "This time you're not getting away this easily. You have dark circles under your eyes ever since sick bay, you tend to dose off during briefings, you are advised to get more sleep by your _R2-unit_, you rarely show up in the canteen this day… Don't tell me that everything's under control and will just turn out fine and that it's none of my business because it _is_ if my wing-mate someday gets sloppy because she's just way to tired to even fly a patrol. _This_ time tell me the _truth_, captain." She still tried to avoid his gaze and finally turned her back to him. But to his surprise he could hear her quiet voice seconds later, eventually inviting him in. 

Under the applause of their squadron mates and several other pilots present at the canteen, Randy Krennel and Kara Kar'Esta shared their first public kiss. Kara's sister who had suspected all the time but never truly believed in it threw them some teasing remarks but neither of them took them seriously. Shortly before their second kiss, Randy whispered: "Marry me, Kay.", and she said nothing, just kissed him back even more passionately than the last one. When they finally broke the kiss, he grinned and whispered: "I take that as a yes." Sitting down again and leaning back with his hands behind his head and Kara's arm around his shoulders Randy Krennel loved life through and through. 

He had finally found the courage to make the true nature of their relationship public, kiss his one-year secret girlfriend under the eyes of at least 30 people and had been accepted as her fiancé. If his father would see him right now, "fraternizing with a lower life-form" he would have a fit of rage that would have ended in a heart attack. But the man finally was far, far away. _Yes_, he thought, life _indeed_ was good.

Kenzy leaned back in her chair and folded her arms. Fragments about "not showing personal affection in public" came to her mind but for once she ignored. Pilots with higher ranks were present and didn't say anything so she supposed it would be alright what Krennel and Kar'Esta were doing. Anyway, she liked them both and wished them well but in every day routine that would have to keep this in check. "Jealous, lieutenant?", a low mocking voice from somewhere behind her said and she turned to see Flight Officer Blenwell throwing her one of these nasty grins, now with a mocking touch to it. She cocked an eyebrow, as ever so often and said with a false sweet smile: "Had too much to drink, flight officer?" Still wearing the lop-sided grin, he stood up and sat down beside her. He moved into a position that seemed to have been designed exactly for people like him. Hands behind his head, only sitting half on his chair, his right ankle on his left knee… 

Blenwell looked so much like the ideal pilot whose ego was bigger than even his quarters, it almost hurt Saron's eyes. Rolling her eyes she turned away. "Aw, come on, lieutenant. I _know_ you want a little bit of this for yourself." 

"_What?_", she exclaimed as she turned around to him. Amused he noted the look of utter and absolute surprise and disbelieve. _Provoking this woman  is so much fun I just can't stop._ The self-satisfied look on Blenwell's face had reached its peak ever since Saron knew this man, she noted. If she only could land a blow on this man verbally. Suddenly the grin faltered and a look more suiting a teacher or mentor than a pilot appeared, as he said: "You have to see… it's just like this, lieutenant… you are a woman… and deep down in her heart every woman wants nothing more than a man who loves and understands her, two or three children whom she can give all her love to and a nice little house on a nice little planet…" With every word her face changed more from disbelieve to downright fury. He see the anger boil up inside of her literally. And when she jumped up he knew had crossed a border he never should have even touched. The fire in her eyes was something he had never seen before and he somehow knew she was going to give him the most thorough beating-up her ever had for this any minute. He could see her clench her fists, could see the muscles working in her arms, in her face and then… then nothing happened apart from her turning around stiffly and slowly walking out of the canteen. Completely dumb-founded he starred at her all the time and when the door had finally closed he turned around to his comrades, just to see them all starring at _him_. His face blushing a deep crimson he rubbed his neck embarrassedly and mumbled: "Obviously she doesn't like Y-Wing jokes."

At the same time Coreena fought hard to keep the tears from streaming down her face. She sat on the lower bunk, opposite of Lochlin who had taken his usual place straddling her chair and sitting with the backrest towards her. "Why didn't you tell me that these nightmares haven't subsided since sick bay?" She looked down, wrung her hands. He could sense the frustration she must have worked up by now and just wished he could take her hands in his and tell her everything would be good.

She, on the other hand, somehow sensed that there was more behind his mask of a worried subordinate or friend. Coreena didn't know how and why but she had the feeling she could almost hear his thoughts, like she had heard the people of Alderaan screaming out in shock, pain and desperation. It frightened her and surely didn't do anything against her confusion concerning him. 

After a fair amount of time she finally said in a choked and strained voice: "I thought they were nothing of importance, just some after shock symptoms, vanishing after a week or so… and then I didn't want to bother any of you… I mean this is _my_ problem, I don't have to burden others with it…" He rubbed his face, then said: "Cap… could you please stop this "Please, nobody worry about me, I'm goodness impersonated" thing? It's not helping us any. You should have said something two weeks ago, then we wouldn't have this mess now. I don't blame you on anything, it's just… kind of rubbing off on me, too." 

She stood up, walked a step or two, and looked at the wall with her hands in her pockets. Then she said: "I'm sorry about this, lieutenant. I'm sorry about the whole "too much distance from the squadron" mess, it's just that… I didn't came here voluntarily or because my former squad commander thought I was such an exceptional pilot I needed my first command right after my field promotion… I got here because my commander couldn't afford to throw me out or demote me because my flight and leadership performance just didn't allow this but he nevertheless wanted me out of his squadron so he requested my transfer. I should have transferred to Red Squadron but he made sure I got some unknown Rookie unit operating in the Outer Rim with nothing more to do than some occasional escort runs and dozens of simulator runs and just plain dumb patrols." She turned around and now, the first tears had started running down. "And do you want to know why he did this?" Uncertain of what to say Marcus just shook his head and she went on. "Because I had been "flirting", "making constantly advances" and "distracting his pilots from their work". _I_ was one of these pilots, dammit. This guy from some decades ago thought women were naturally unable to be soldiers, to fight, to even only fly. And that my homeworld was Alderaan didn't make it any easier." 

"I…" She cut him off, saying: "There's nothing to say to it, lieutenant. I just wanted you to understand and I hope you do now." He nodded and stood up himself, suddenly being nearer to her than on any other occasion. The tension that raised in him was enough stun him for a brief moment of time, making him unable to think about anything else than her scent, her hair, her wet face, all the doors that suddenly opened. He coughed and said in a croaked half-whisper: "If there is anything I can do for you, captain…" She smiled a sad little smile and shook her head. "No, it's okay for now, lieutenant. Just you being here and listening to my whining made it better." Marcus had to ram is hands into his pockets to keep them from caressing her cheek and make the tear go away. He coughed another time and gave her an almost apologetic smile, saying: "That's… um… good to hear. I suppose I better leave now… I should have been at Randy's party for almost an hour now, so…" She nodded and answered: "Yes… you… you should be going now, he surely would be mad at you if you missed the whole party. And we don't want to rise any suspicions, do we?" Her smile seemed a little to cheerful to be genuine but he didn't notice. Marcus had enough to do with his own emotions so he just agreed and went through the door with a "See you" and another one of these embarrassed half-smiles. 

She didn't close the door as soon as he was out and notice only moments later that she actually as _starring_ after him. Immediately she turned away from the door and collapsed on the ground. Angry she hit her fist on the floor. _Damn!_, she thought, _I am doing it again._


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Note: **A/Nthis time at the bottom because I felt like it was giving away too much of the chapter and too much about the following one to belong _before_ the actual chapter. Oh, and please note that I also up-dated the dramatis personae for all of you who have been reading this story since it had been posted originally.

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**Chapter Eleven**

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After the incident at the party Marten left the canteen soon, too, trying to find a spot where he could do a bit of thinking. Finally he landed in the quarters he now shared with Randy since Tyan D'Ar's death a week or so ago. But since the kid would be spending most of his downtime in the canteen it seemed to be the best choice. He laid down on his back on the lower bunk, his hands folded behind his head and began to let his thoughts wander. 

From the first rumble-in he and Kenzy had never been on actually good terms. Marten remembered the tough woman being introduced by Dreis. She had not given them the tiniest smile, her facial expression stern and serious throughout the whole ceremony. Soon after it they had their first quarrel when Blenwell had tried to test her tolerance in a simulator run. As he had learned pretty fast that his woman didn't like to be tested in _any_ way. Which however didn't make him stop it. Through the time he had come to enjoy their fighting as it kept his mind occupied and sometimes distracted from dull patrol duty since she was a worthy opponent. Well, and not to forget that he liked the certain spark of energy that was always between them. 

And now he had ruined everything. Frustrated he kicked the bunk above him hard. He should have known how far she could be pushed without being seriously angry. Blenwell sighed. He had considered a formal written apology briefly but had put away this thought quickly. Saron was not the kind of beings who were satisfied with a bit of data or talk to settle serious affairs, and he was just too proud to admit his guilt openly to anyone. So what could make the lieutenant let him off?

He tried to imagine what she was doing right at the moment to work off her frustration and anger and immediately came to a conclusion. She most certainly was in the work out room, running her lungs out or beating the dummy to pulp. _Yes_, he thought, _maybe_ this _could be the way to come to terms with her._ He got up and gathered his work out clothes. If he was lucky and she liked his way of apologizing he would return with some really severe bruises.

As her body hit the floor several heads in the cell turned. They seemed genuinely surprised to see her alive and quite healthy again. The first one to say something was Telsij Cayr in her usual drawl: "So they decided to let you live, huh?" Kesra scrambled to her feet and walked over to the bunk she normally occupied. She could feel not only Cayr's gaze on her but that of several other prisoners as well. She just sat down and drew her knees toward her chin. Then she finally was read to speak, but addressed no-one special in the room

"Let's just say that I was very, very lucky." She dared not to tell the others that Chesfer seemed to have developed a special interest in her and that they had a potential ally in sick bay, and just hoped that the others understood the hint not to ask any more questions. Her hopes fell as H'sishi said: "Lucky like Kat, young one?" Kesra's head jerked up. She gave the Ishi Tip a puzzled glance and the Ishi Tip shot something back that looked suspiciously like the Ishi Tip equivalent of a "You know what I mean"-look. Slowly she bent her head down and answered: "Yes… yes, I think just like her…" The woman they had been talking of now lifted her head. Fresh stains of tears could be seen all over her face, indicating it had been her turn this time. She normally didn't say anything, not even when it was "feeding time", as Cayr liked to call it in her usual condescending irony. But now, eventually she opened her mouth and said in a whisper so low and hoarse one almost didn't understand anything: "I wish she would have let me die." 

Now the Cath from Engineer Corps moved into an upright sitting position and purred out: "Sometimes we _all_ wish she would have done it." Every prisoner nodded. Kesra didn't even want to try to guess what had happened to them. The Cath, however, wasn't finished yet. "But if she had really done it she would not have been any better than the rest of this Imperial scum." A bundle from the other side of the room moved and evolved into the petite form of Ryana Whares. The private had been even quieter than Deira, not even crying she had done so far. 

Her voice was low but not as broken as Deira's as she said: "I still believe she's just another trick to get us to talk, like this "good COMPNOR – bad COMPNOR" thing. Kardian's the good part while Chesfer and his clowns are the bad part. Maybe our good doctor even _is_ COMPNOR. Never trust an Imp, that's what we commandos are trained." 

R'siikhi, a woman with short dark hair who reminded Kesra a bit of her room-mate Kenzy, but older and with more rough edges, snorted and said: "Sithspawn's what they are teaching you. You commando people are so narrow-minded you can't see further than your next object to blow up." 

Whares shot R'siikhi a furious glare and jumped up. She invited the older woman with her hands to a fight, hissing: "You wanna fight? I'll give you a fight…" Kesra was surprised to see R'siikhi stand up and sauntering provokingly slow towards Whares. She had expected more calmness and tolerance from a woman of her age but then again… the imprisonment surely had left its marks on all of them. Mimicking Cayr's drawl, R'siikhi said to Whares: "Don't tempt me, little girl…", and this made the private only more agitated. But before one of them landed the first blow, H'sishi's calm and quiet voice barged in, reprimanding both of them: "Stop it, the both of you. Have you forgotten yet that we have to stay together? That it is this what you are doing right now what the Imperials want us to do? If you harbor a grudge against someone of us, say so. But don't let it escalate to something that might hurt one or all participants of the debate. And if you don't feel able to settle this on your own…" 

The door slid open again and Chesfer strode in, self-confident and arrogant as every time. He let his gaze wander and this time it got caught on H'sishi. Kesra felt the familiar cold in her stomach, the cold she felt every time she herself was chosen. Chesfer pointed at her with a half disgusted, half anticipating look and two stormtroopers walked over to her but instead of waiting for them to haul her up, the Ishi Tip stood up with more grace and dignity Kesra had ever expected to see in a prisoner of Chesfer. Kesra just hoped with all her might that this was not H'sishi's last walk.

This time loud music was coming out of the work-out room, something with fast beats and aggressive rhymes Blenwell hadn't heard before. Cautiously he opened the door a bit and poked his head in. And yes, there she was, hitting the dummy faster than it could repair itself. _I really touched a nerve there_, he thought and careful not to make a sound he sneaked in the room and prepared himself for a challenge harder than everything the Empire had thrown at him.

Although officially forbidden by Mallan there were still bets running in the squad about Kenzy's origins and what she had done before Starfighter Command. He smiled. He was one of people that had placed her somewhere around Intelligence or the commandos from the start and he saw his speculations confirmed now. The techniques she used weren't the ones of mere street fighters as they looked too accurate and drilled. 

He didn't know how long he had been watching when he finally strolled into the room and said in a voice just loud enough to be heard over the pumping rhythm: "Why don't you pick on someone from your size, lieutenant?" 

She froze, then turned around. He could see that she had some obvious difficulties to keep her temper in check but finally she said in a seemingly calm and self-confident voice: "They ran out of Weequays in Supply and none of the techy Wookiees wanted to spar with me _again_." 

He grinned the grin he knew enraged her most and countered: "Yeah, because they couldn't endure the pity they felt when they had to let you win _again_ so your precious little ego wouldn't be damaged too much, anymore." She snorted and fastened the strips around her knuckles, retorting: "You forgot that it was _your_ ego which is too big to fit even in your quarters Anyway… what do you want?" 

A lop-sided grin from him. "For starters, you shut up this trashing sound which claims to be music." 

She cocked an eyebrow and said: "And who do you think you are to give me such an order?"

"Someone who likes to call music something light and slightly less annoying than this." This was getting him nowhere, he thought, but to his surprise she winked with her hand and the music stopped, being followed by a droid's warble. "You see, I'm not alone in here. If you don't want to get severely hurt keep your tongue in check this time.", she said with a glance to her droid which hooted acknowledging. He grabbed the towel which hung around is neck and for the first time she realized he had come in work-out clothes. _Great…_ He grinned. "Careful, lieutenant, with that you threatened a fellow officer." She walked over to a bench and grabbed a bottle of water. After taking a long sip she turned to him again and said: "And with your silly and downright stupid remark you insulted every single female being who ever fought for the Alliance. Now try to wage that against my little advice." He had several opportunities now and he chose the most painful, saying: "So you tell me women actually can _fight_? The last time you tried it against me, you lost, remember?" Marten could see the anger building up in her again and mentally congratulated himself that he had just managed to volunteer as a living device to let some wrath out for her. 

"You want to give me a revenge?" He bowed his head slightly, making it look more like an Imperial salute than a gesture of gallantry. "I _grant_ it to you, please keep this in mind." She fastened the strips around her knuckles again and said: "You are even stupider than  thought until now. And now stop talking and let's get into action."

Six hours later the Coreena's comm snatched her from sleep. It had been a comparatively quiet night, but six hours were far from being enough to cure two weeks' without sufficient sleep. 

Groggy she jumped from her bed and grabbed her comm. She tied not to sound to sleepy but nevertheless her voice slurred just a tick too much when she said: "Mallan here. What is it?" The answer made her awake in less than a second since it was Zifra shouting at her: "What in all galaxies where you thinking when you put together this lousy excuse for a report and sent it to me?" She tried to stay as calm a possible, to master this situation like her mother would have mastered it, and replied: "I am glad you received my report and the suggestion for our next squadron orders." 

If it could be possible in any way Zifra seemed to explode even louder now. "How dare you even think of giving me advice how to operate with my forces?" She was in no mood whatsoever to discuss this two hours before the next escort run through Chesfer's operating territories but she knew Zifra wouldn't let her off the hook easily. So she did the only thing reasonable: She asked for a meeting in the opee-fish's den. Grudgingly he agreed and turned his comm off. A fast as she could she put on a new uniform and went off to his office. This would be the longest two hours of her life.

At the same time Zifra did a great job of dressing Coreena down in any way possible while she eventually managed to persuade him step by step to agree with her, Randy wand Marten got up and got ready for the run. 

When they finally left there quarters and glaring deck light of the main corridor revealed the full scale of Marten's multi-colored face Randy couldn't stifle a laugh for long. Between suppressed laughing fits he got out: "I hope the other one looks even worse than you." With a slightly sour look on his face Marten lightly touched his sore left cheek-bone, and gave Randy a muffled reply: "I'm sorry I have to disappoint you. The lady still looks like her old rancor self." 

This remark only made Randy laugh harder. "You mean, Kenzy did this to you? Either it was a very, very bad Y-Wing joke you told her or you insulted her secret Y-Wing-jock boyfriend." 

Cautiously not to make too fast movements Marten shook his head. "It's even worse than this…"

"Even worse?"

"Yeah, I insulted "every female being that ever fought for the Alliance" Those were her exact words. And no, I did _not_ tell her one of my silly "Why women can't fly a Starfighter"-jokes." If anything this comment just woke up Randy's curiosity, and he asked: "So, what _did_ you tell her that made you look like being beaten up by a Weequay?" Marten just shrugged and said: "I rather don't want to tell you… just take my advice to _never_ tell a woman soldier what you think she really wants…" 

Randy, going a little bit further than even Marten in his mind, this time misunderstood him. "Are you saying you tried your trick on _her_?" A vicious grin spread over the young man's face and Marten shook his head, replying: "No… If I had done _this_ I would be in sick bay right now, eating through a tube, believe me. Man, this woman surely knows how to use her feet…" He rubbed his jaw which felt as sore as the rest of his body, and didn't even want to think about how getting out of his Starfighter would feel after ten hours and only one stop-over escort duty.

It were only minutes to their rendezvous time when Zifra finally dismissed Coreena but she still felt better than anywhere in the last two weeks. She had come a great deal close to the last significant step to finally get Kesra back to the squadron, and she won one of the fiercest "superior argument" battles of her career. 

Whistling and smiling she strode into the hangar and got into her fighter with more enthusiasm than the last two weeks altogether. When they were done with run he had good news for her squadron. 

After a quick check-up she switched on her comm and said: "Gray Squadron, this is Gray Leader. Report your status."

"Gray Two, four lit and in the green."

"Gray Three, ready to go."

"Gray Four, all systems go."

"Gray Five, everything in the green."

"Gray Six, ready to go."

"Gray Seven as well."

"Gray Nine, ready to kick some Imperial butt."

"Gray Ten, all systems in the green."

"Green Twelve, ready to go."

Coreena nodded, then said when Control gave them permission to leave the hangar: "Gray Squadron, lift off and assemble in your flight groups. When I'm through with assigning you to your transporters you will do as ordered. We will jump to hyperspace in the usual way, one transport at a time, rendezvousing at the end of the jump." All squadron members acknowledged although they all knew the procedure by now, Coreena had to do this by the book. She knew Zifra was watching her and she couldn't afford to make any mistakes by now. When she finally had assigned two fighters to every transporter and made it to the jump spot she timed her jump with Marcus and the transporter and pulled the lever hat catapulted her to hyperspace. 

**A/N:** Yeah, I know, not one of my most brilliant chapters but I was kind of uninspirated (must be the after-effects of my muse's AWOL) when I wrote tjis and I wanted to get this chapter online ASAP on the hand and on the other hand I wanted to get on with the story (meaning there will be a lot more action in the next chapter, maybe a stunning revelation or two and and least one new character will be introduced), but to be honest… I've not quite decided yet how to develop the characters' relationships and – what's even more important – whom I'm going to let die in the next chapter since there will be a nice little dogfight scene (you surely haven't thought I'm going to let them get away with yet another boring escort-run, have you? *g) and I just feel like they need something really cutting in (and no, I _won't_ let Coreena or Kenzy die since the first one is the main character and the second one is my personal favorite character…)… anyway, just have a little patience since I want the next chapter to be a lot better than this ^_^


	13. Chapter Twelve

**A/N Part I: **Okay, I hereby decide that I will place further A/N at the bottom of the text because they begin to contain spoilers and just seem to be placed there better generally. But on with the story.

****

**Chapter Twelve**

It was the still of hyperspace that Coreena found its most important quality. While she traveled through the whirling colors she could let her mind wander even more easily than in her cramped quarters or in the buzzing activity of the canteen. She allowed herself to close her eyes for a brief moment and leaned back. By chance her thoughts drifted to her talk with Zifra and satisfied she thought, _one thing to scratch of my list._ Which still left the nightmares, the strange sensations and occasional visions she kept having and that damn thing with her XO, which strangely enough bugged her the most since their last encounter. 

After her last failed relationship she had sworn herself never to fall in love again with _any_ pilot, squad mate or not, if they served together even only on the same ship. How could she have been so stupid as to fall for a _comrade_? From her first day as a soldier she had known that there was nothing more painful and _stupid_ than falling in love with someone you saw every day, worked with, passed your down time with, could not escape if this one didn't return your feelings the way you wanted it. But no, it had to be her _CO_, in all galaxies, who was happily married to a member of his ground crew… She shook her head to get off these painful memories… all of them, together with some rather unpleasant encounters with fellow male pilots or ship personnel… She starred out of her canopy front window again…

And suddenly the psychedelic patterns of hyperspace vanished and were replaced by the blackness of deep space and the quiet was torn by blaring collision alarms and her frantically shrieking R2. In an instant the squadron channel was alive with all of the pilots chattering at once. 

"Leader, Two, I have fast ships incoming…"

"My R2-unit keeps warbling about a gravitation field but we are in the middle of nowhere…"

"There's something on my HUD…"

"It's a drag ship!"

Trying to stay as calm as possible Coreena looked at her won HUD and sensors and could see at least 24 red blips approaching them very fast as much as a bigger red blip approximately six to eight klicks behind her. She turned her ship in a lazy arc and when the ship which Randy had called a drag ship came in sight she held her breath for a heart beat. It had the triangular shape of an Imperial Star Destroyer but where its hull should have had a sleek appearance, two big bulbs on every side were pricking through it. _An Interdictor Cruiser_. "Damn.", she muttered and instantly began to making decisions. "Okay, let's stay close to the transport an rescue as much of them as we can manage. Concentrate your fire on the attacking fighters and try to stay away from the Interdictor. And most of all: Try to get away from its mass shadow. My R2 will calculate a micro-jump and then try to send it to your units on a relatively safe frequency. Protect the freighters, don't do anything foolish, jump as soon as you are away far enough from the Interdictor. Good luck to all of you." 

With the captain's last words the first wave of TIE-fighters hit them full force. They were attacking the convoy in the usual three-to-one-odds, everywhere it was possible. Since Kenzy and Blenwell where the guardians of _Bantha V_, the last one of the freighters and therefore the last to have jumped they were now the ones at the front, the ones that engaged the TIE-fighters at their full strength. 

"Seven, hard to port on my mark… _Now_!" While she was breaking starboard to evade the first wave, Blenwell did the same to starboard and flew a tight arc. They had wedged three TIE-fighters between them and were fighting them now from two sided, eventually eliminating all three of them. Their X-Wings crossed paths and flew tight maneuvers to keep to the slow transporter. Saron inwardly cursed the limited maneuvering space the tight formation of the transports caused, but aloud she said: "_Bantha V_, Eleven, how are you doing?" The reply came crackled but still clear enough to tell her that they were taking a fair amount of fire but would be able to hold on for at least 30 minutes. She checked her own systems and found her shields reduced to 85%. Not critical yet but still a fact to worry about. Her droid warbled. It ad received the data from Mallan's unit together with the entry vector. Five clicks to go. "_Bantha V_, did you receive everything, too?" They acknowledged and instantly corrected their course according to the data. To Saron's eyes the movements of the heavy freighter seemed painfully slow. 

"I wish they would just dump that damn cargo and hurry out of here." She sighed at Blenwell's remark and returned: "You know that was stupid and uncalled for, Seven. Better keep your senses on that fighters, as I got one on my tail I absolutely can't shake." She let her X-Wing dance to all directions and ankles, making it hard for the TIE-fighter pilot to target her. Or so, she hoped.

She couldn't suppress a sigh of relief when Blenwell finally vaped the eyeball. "What, don't I even get a thank you?", came the cocky reply of her wing-mate. She wondered briefly how it was possible that someone could concentrate on fighting _and_ keeping up his reputation of a pain in the ass, but replied nothing, only rather concentrated on defending her assigned transport. 

Then, suddenly a scream broke through her battle haze, and she realized only marginally that the green dot representing Gray Five had vanished from her sensor boards. The part that noticed such things and immediately began to digest them emotionally normally shrunk through a program just running in the background during fights, but she knew it would come back to haunt her all the harder after everything was over. But now was not the time to think about things like this. They had almost reached the entry spot and were relatively clear of any hostile forces when suddenly two fighters seemed to run at her from above her. They began to pump lasers into her shield and since she had cut down their energy to a fourth of their maximal strength to gain more speed they were down to zero in only minutes. LASERS OUT, the text on her display read and _now_ she _really_ was in trouble. "Seven, where are you? My lasers are out…" TORPEDO LAUNCHER OUT. And still the fighters kept pursuing her. Suddenly she felt a sharp pinch at her right leg and her right and felt like it had been fried in hot oil for several minutes. UPPER PORT ENGINE OUT. "Make… jump…", she got out and hoped Blenwell would understand her and leave with the transport, but he just replied: "Not until I have blown up these clowns."

His fighter zoomed past her front window and red laser beams penetrated space. To her relief a bright red explosion enfolded to her port side. She tried to follow Blenwell at least with her gaze but found it alarmingly impossible to move her body without even the slightest feel of pain. There were not many situations where Saron Kenzy would start to panic but this was definitely one of them. She had never felt so helpless and useless as when Blenwell finally exclaimed, that he had gotten the last one. With all her remaining strength she pulled the lever. And then there was only black nothingness.

When Kal told her hat the first transport had escaped Coreena heaved a sigh of relief. At least two would survive this ambush. Up to now they had lost two transporters and one squad member. She just hoped it would stay this way. Both she and Marcus had put a up a tough fight, constantly reducing the waves of TIE-fighters coming towards them but they were everything else than close to the entry spot. Her transport, _Bantha I_, didn't look the best either and she could see no way to get through the fight without severe damage as _Bantha I_ was placed in the center of the convoy and since there were only two transporters remaining, the fighter wing leader seemed to render _Bantha I_ as the most important transporter. If Imperials were after food and food processor spare parts he certainly was right. 

She took a quick scan of her surroundings. Frowning she realized that the bigger part of her squadron still was at the fighting scene and first decided to order the ones that didn't have a transport to defend anymore out. But as she inquired _Bantha IV_'s flight status she was told that they had lost both their main engines, a part of their life-support system and had taken some hull damage already but that their hyper drive and hyper drive motivator were still operational. She let out a curse. _Bantha IV_ was their most important transport along with _Bantha V_ since it carried X- and Y-Wing spare parts as well as astromech units, starfighter fuel and – what was most important – a considerable big shipment of bacta. A part of this was more or less safely away but the bacta still was there and her plan to simply escape had obviously failed. Grudgingly she had to take on plan B. 

"Grays, this is Leader. Change of plans. We have to take out this Interdictor. I will definitely go. An volunteers to join me?" The light to her left side blinked, indicating Marcus wanted to speak to her over their wing-pair frequency in private and although she knew almost exactly what he wanted to tell her, she switched it on. "You sure you want to do this, Cap? I mean… it's an _Interdictor_…" _Yuck. His "worried-friend"-trick again._ "Yes, positively, Two. You stay here with the squadron while I take on this thing. Any questions?" By now he knew this tone and knew to keep his mouth shut. 

She switched to squadron frequency again and said: "Well, any volunteers?" Static hissing, then: "Leader, this is Three. I'll go." Coreena acknowledged and right after Deraani and to her surprise Flann called: "Leader, Nine. Me, too." 

"Okay, let's go. Three, Nine, form up behind me, we're gonna fight our way through to the Interdictor." Three and Nine acknowledged and followed suit. Again her comm-light blinked. Sighing she changed the frequency again and heard Marcus saying in a very low voice: "Be careful, Cap." For a moment she considered not answering and simply changing the channel, but then she decided otherwise and replied in a voice equally low: "Sure, Marcus.", then switched over to the frequency she had assigned to "suicide flight" as she sardonically chose to call their little assault party. "Let's get the party started."

Marcus cast one last at Coreena's fighter, then returned his full concentration to the TIE-fighter dancing before him. Which was a blink of an eye to late. The fighter broke hard to port, to fast even for an X-Wing. Marcus tried to follow it nonetheless but heard his inertial dampers whine in protest. He aborted the action and assigned the target to his wing-mate, which was now Randy Krennel. The kid was quite good here, better than he had been in all situations before. Marcus just hoped it would get him through this, too. 

He went through the locks on his HUD and finally found what he was looking for. _Bantha IV_'s shields were finally down to zero. Time to do a check-up. "_Bantha IV_, how are you looking?" He got only a static hissing as an answer but it was answer enough. _Hurry up, Coreena, dammit, hurry up!_ By now, only six TIE-fighters remained but they seemed to be made of tough meat. _Bantha IV_ was hung in space like a lame hawk bat, ready to be taken by a bigger predator. It was a tough decision but he chose to concentrate his actions on the fighters attacking _Bantha IV_ instead of _I_. _I_ had their shields at 50%. A part of his mind which wasn't fully involved with fighting found it quite odd. As if the fighter pilots knew full well which freighters were the important ones… He shook his head, chased the thought away, tried to concentrate on the fight again. 

"_Bantha V_ to Gray fighters. Everything okay with you?" Marten waited for Kenzy to reply but nothing came. He circled her fighter and finally got a clear view inside her cockpit. The sight scared him. Her head hung loosely forward, her face not visible. She was very clearly unconscious. _Damn._ It was his fault. He should have seen the fighter attacking her. He should have seen that her shields were rapidly decreasing. He should have… "Hey, you alive or what?" 

He closed is eyes briefly and shook his head. Then he responded: "_Bantha V_, this is Gray Seven. I'm okay, but my wing-mate seems quite battered. Her life stats say she's still breathing and has a pulse but she quite positively needs some treating. I'll try talk to her R2." He changed the frequency and said: "Whatever your name is… what's your ship's status?" I'D RATHER WORRY ABOUT ITS PILOT, replied the droid. Marten grumbled: "You didn't have much memory vapes recently, did you?" Another reply appeared on his screen. MY MISTRESS TREATS ME WITH RESPECT. _Good Jedi, I'm arguing with a droid…_"Um… okay… don't let's turn this into a moral dispute.. just tell me how the ship is and how Kenzy is." Finally the droid was willing to cooperate. I AM REPAIRING THE ENGINE AT THE MOMENT SINCE IT SEEMED TO ME TO BE OF GREATEST IMPORTANCE. THE LASERS AND TORPEDO LAUNCHERS ARE STILL OUT. MY MISTRESS IS UNCONSCIOUS BUT HAS PULSE AND IS BREATHING. AS FAR AS MY SENSORS TELL ME SHE HAS SEVERE BURNS ON HER RIGHT SIDE. Marten took some time to think. The needed to get Kenzy as fast as possible into medical care but someone needed to fly her ship while she was unable to do it… "_Bantha V_, do you have vacuum proof suits and someone on board who has some experience with the X-Wing?" 

The _Bantha_ had bacta on board, and would be able to treat her a little but his hopes fell as the captain gave him two negatives. And he told him: "Hey look, space jockey, we need to get away from here. We have some difficulties with our life support systems which need to be repaired real soon and we have some injured also. It would be nice of you to decide a little quicker." He wanted to rub his eyes but knocked his hands against his visor. Grumbling again he addressed the droid: "Are you able to perform basic flight maneuvers on your own?" The droid's answer came fast and he was sure that if he had actually be ale to hear the droid the answer would be a furious warble. Amused he read the text. OF COURSE. MY MISTRESS USED TO TRAIN ME. I MAY BE NOT VERY GOOD IN FIGHTING BUT I SURELY KNOW HOW TO FLY THIS SHIP. Marten nodded and then said: "Okay, I tell you what to do. Try to wake up your mistress, she needs to stay awake if any difficulties appear. Calculate the jump to the safe world and try to land that thing there. And by no means let her sleep again, she might have a concussion." There was no reply, but soon afterwards he could see Kenzy moving her head up very, very slow and trying to coordinate the movements of her hand. Minutes, it seemed, later her slurring voice came over the comm, saying: "How dare you waking me up? Bastard, you…" He smiled. Maybe she had a concussion but even that didn't do anything to diminish her energy when it came to flaming on him. "Just stay awake 'till your droid land you safely. We will jump when _Bantha_ has the coordinates calculated. By the way, are you ready, _Bantha_?" 

The answer came almost instantly. "Yeah, sure, space jock. Ready as any freighter can be. Let's get away from here."

At the same moment the rest of Gray Squadron still was fighting but luckily only two TIE-fighters were there and there didn't seem to come any new ones. Soon they had finished them too, and Marcus was ready to help Coreena and the others with Interdictor as they still had their difficulties with it. But just as he was about to turn towards them, Coreena's voice came over comm, sounding strained but under control. "Don't even think about it. Guard that freighters. You can never be sure what they will throw us." He heaved a sigh and did the only thing he could do. Sit and watch. 

Coreena on the other hand had her hands full. Not only were the gunners extremely good shooters but they also had had a squadron of TIE-Fighters in stock which they only had released when Coreena and her two companions had crossed an invisible line some half click before actually being in torpedo shooting range. They couldn't even think about coordinating a torpedo attack against the _Fearless_ because they all had at least two eyeballs on their tails and were chasing one. She cursed. If they couldn't soon get rid of this ship they would begin to board the freighters as they had already dispatched landing boats. She told Marcus and hoped he just knew what to do. 

He did, but it wasn't what she had wanted him to do. Finally deciding against her order he dispatched Randy and Nunb from his party and sent them over to Coreena. Maybe she'd hate him after this but at least he could say of himself that he had done everything in his mind to safer her life and the lives of their fellow pilots. He knew he couldn't stand his ground against landing boats with only him and Kara defending the freighters but if they were lucky enough they didn't need any defense at all. It were only seconds after this that his sensors showed the first landing crafts.

"Gray Four and Ten to the rescue, Leader." He had done it again. Coreena cursed and answered in a tone none of them had heard before: "Four and Ten, Leader acknowledged. Get these eyeballs off our tails." Without answer they obeyed. Coreena didn't know how long she had done this, fighting eyeballs, trying to escape the _Fearless_' gunners, desperately hoping for a chance to do the final torp run. She had to admit that the two new fighters _were_ an improvement but Marcus would have to justify this when they had made it out of this. _That is,_ if _we make it out of here._, she added mentally but didn't dwell on the thought too long. There were definitely other things to do. 

The fighter in front of her bopped from one side to another and she tried to concentrate solely on it. And she eventually succeeded when the tunnel vision set in. Everything else diminished and she entered the kind of trance she seldom achieved. She couldn't explain it but suddenly somehow everything else vanished and she was able to evade the laser beams of the _Fearless_ unconsciously. Then something inside her tinted, like a string of a Alderaanian harp being pulled carelessly like it always felt when she tipped into something deep inside of her. And in the blink of a moment the TIE-fighter vanished from the battle field. As much as three others in close order. 

She only half noticed what was going on outside her mind and the strange trance she was in. When she heard a distress call over comm she realized only moments after it that it came from Randy. She was divided. If she talked she was secure to lose her concentration but if she did not he would most probably do something foolish. Her decision was made in a split second.

"Go back, Four. Try to make it to the exit vector. Take Ten with you. Your object is to get out of here alive. Am I understood?" It took some seconds, then came his strained and almost not understandable answer: "Yes… good luck, cap…" She breathed a sigh of relief as two of her fighters withdrew immediately. Now it was up to her, Deraani and Flann again.

She raced alongside _Fearless_' port hull and let a series of shoots pour down on it. Then something big exploded and from what she knew about Imperial standard starship engineering it was some sensor array. _If you can't defeat your enemy, confuse him. Or make him blind, deaf and mute._ It showed some success as suddenly a whole line of cannons grew silent as they didn't know where to shoot anymore. This was their chance. If they didn't strike now, they'd as well do it never.

"Peeps, we're doing it now. Form up behind me, link your target computers to mine and pray for a last time." At her order, Three and Nine aborted their respective runs and did as she ordered. When they were ready, the trio left the hull and made their way to the two towers next to the bridge and targeted the two spheres above them which were the shield generators. But just as she was about to order the first volley, Deraani reported a torpedo launchers' malfunction. Coreena couldn't do anything than to order her out and she did. She just hoped it were only Deraani's torp launchers which didn't work properly. 

"Okay, Nine. On my mark. Three…, Two…, One… _Fire_!" Both hit the trigger and four torpedoes successfully hit the first generator. But both of them also knew that they had o destroy the second one as well if they wanted to destroy the Interdictor. "Ready, Nine?" He gave her an affirmative and they did their second successful run. And when the generator finally exploded and the ship began its death spin it was time for _them_ to run.

Marcus' R2-unit Siren let out its typical whining sound when the ship's sensors finally showed no mass shadow anymore. He could see Coreena's and Flann's ships coming at him on the highest speed their battered ships could offer and her voice pierced in his eyes when she shouted over comm: "To all Alliance vessels, jump!" 

He would have done it but a millisecond before pulling the lever suddenly a gunboat raced down to her, attacking her violently while another boat took on Flann. They both stood their ground but it pained Marcus to leave her like his, to _abandon_ her. Form the corner of is eye he saw that the three of them were the only Alliance ships remaining. He was at a relatively safe position far enough away from the thread the gun boats were posing but he just wanted to _do_ anything. His attempts however were stopped before he even had begun them. 

"When I say jump, I mean it, so for the Stars' sake _do it_!", her voice came over he comm in the same commanding voice she always was successful with and it worked with him, too. Casting a last look, he finally jumped to hyperspace.

**A/N: **Cliffie!!!!!!! I always wanted to do it and now it's here!!!!! I hope it doesn't vex you this much, though… anyway… okay, I admit it… no big revelations here, I had to save this for the next chapter (which will be a "talk"-chapter again… I just don't like writing too much dog-fight scenes because I'm just not very good at them), but at least some allusions and the action I promised was in here, as much as a new death. I hope he didn't have any fans out there who desperately wanted to stay him alive… ahem *g And… maybe someone of you noticed the slight change of style mostly in the last part… I owe this to Jane Austen whose books I'm reading at the moment ("Pride and Prejudice" – it's _the_ book… I absolutely _adore_ Jane Austen's style and stories) and whom I'm naming my muse after (who gave me some brilliant ideas when I least expected them…), mostly because of the stated reasons and – now listen, folks, this is just great – Jane Austen began as a fanfiction writer herself. Everyone not willing to believe it… read the editorial in the Penguin Popular Classics 1994 edition. Or ask me to quote it in the next A/N *g Anyway… meet Jane, my muse… Jane, say hi to the ff.net readers… "Hi to the ff.net readers." Yeah, very funny, kid…


	14. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen 

Their micro jump exit vector laid somewhere in deep space where there were only the stars and hard vacuum. What hyper space was for Coreena Mallan, deep space was for Marcus Lochlin. Against all better judgment he hadn't instantly continued the jump but had ordered the whole party to stay and wait for Flann and Coreena. And besides… _Bantha IV_ needed some time to repair the most urgent damages before making the last jump. 

But the time grew farther and farther and there still wasn't any sign of the two arriving. "_Bantha IV_ to Gray Two. We're ready. Let's go." He didn't hear it, just had his gaze fixed on the spot where they would be exiting hyper space. "Two? We really should be going." This was Deraani. He knew the urgency in her voice was more than justified but something kept him confined to this place in cold space. He'd never admit it, but it seemed more and more that the reason keeping him at the spot was the inability to accept that Coreena maybe ultimately just hadn't made it, as much as Flann had finally let his life on the battlefield. Again Deraani called him, this time maybe even more urgent: "C'mon, Lochlin, let's go. They know where to go and if they haven't made it we're placing this whole mission in jeopardy just because you just can't let go." 

_So you've seen it, too, Deraani._ Marcus looked a last time in the direction from where they should have come and then – finally – ordered them all out.

After exiting hyper space Blenwell was pleasantly surprised as the world they were approaching was not one of the worlds the Rebels normally tended to build their bases on with either fire-spitting volcanoes, waste deserts, mosquito-infested swamps or freezing ice wastes or everything combined on it, but a nice looking green, brown and blue spotted globe, circling its lonely sun in a considerably normal orbit. He smiled. Maybe they were supposed to stay only three standard days on it, but that would be three – or maybe more, considering the lesser size of the planet compared with Imperial Center – pleasant days at least. But more important issues were pressing right now.

"Seven to Twelve, everything okay?" Nothing. Then: "Of… course… You didn't… didn't think… you'd get rid of me… this easily, did you?" Blenwell smiled again. Kenzy was awake, alright. His smile faded as quick as it had appeared. The tone of her voice had told him that she wouldn't make it if they kept lingering in space any longer. He called _Bantha V_. "How're you holding, people? Can you make it down?" _Bantha_ answered in an instant: "We're all okay, thank you. We called Noquivzor Base and they gave us landing permission. I take it that's for you, too, so see you down there." Tin warbled and told him that _Bantha V_ had transferred them the landing coordinates. He called Kenzy again. "You still with us?"

"What else… did you… think… huh?", she replied.

"Well… a short yes would have done it, but anyway… you think you are capable of landing?", he asked what was the real point to him.

"Well… what… do _you_… think?" This was the answer he had least expected and for a moment he really was at a loss for words. Then he had made his decision. "Okay… we'll make it this way… you just lay back, try not to move and let your R2 do all the dirty work." He had expected some blocking answer or at least a light refusal but after some moments of silence she finally said: "Okay… just… get me… out of here… ASAP." The next sound he heard of her was something between a groan and a whimper and it frightened him. If Saron Kenzy whimpered over some injury it had to be something serious. _We better get down now._

"Sir, we have a code three transmission from Imperial City." Desra Tellik, captain of the Imperial Class star destroyer _Predator_ walked over to the young communications ensign and loomed over the crew pit like a hawk-bat over a nest of granite slugs. He fixated the ensign and ordered him to forward the message to his personal account. He knew of only one person on Coruscant who would send messages with such a high class code. 

A short look at the message and rough skimming through confirmed what he had been looking forward to. _And again a step farther away from here and a step nearer to the_ real _empire._ He allowed himself a little sardonic smile. _And – of course – a step nearer home._

The comparatively short journey to the world called Noquivzor seemed like an eternity to Marcus. The whole time he just starred out into space, not seeing anything and not being able to _grasp_ anything. She was dead. She _had_ to be dead. And at the same time she could _never_ be dead. It was all so confusing. Not that his feelings and thoughts were swirling before him like hyper space pattern, it was quite the opposite. He didn't feel anything _at all_, everything seemed to exist in a constant blur. 

When they arrived at Noquivzor all his actions were that of a machine, a droid. He got them the landing clearing, set down his X-Wing, climbed out of it… and everything seemed to wear him out more. Slowly he did a scan of their surroundings but without seeing anything. Fatigue seemed to have taken control of him, and his movements seemed to be that of an old man. Two people he knew, liked, respected, _loved_ had died today. One of them was Jaris Banon, his former wing-man until he had been assigned to Coreena, the one of his squad mates he had known the longest, his room-mate and – what was most important – his best friend. The other was a woman he hadn't actually known very long but always gave – _had given_, he corrected himself – him the feeling that he had known her for ages. His commander, his wing-mate… and he wished he could say _his friend_, but he'd never do that until he had the feeling that he had the _right_ to feel like her friend. If ever a real grieve should set in he wouldn't only grieve her loss as a fellow soldier, a woman he had felt quite strongly for but also the lost opportunity to actually _tell_ her.

He slumped against the front landing gear and ran a hand through his tousled black hair. Surprised he noted that it was shaking. This just had been too much. Gay Squadron had never had to experience such extensive losses as they had always been operating in comparatively quiet areas of space. They hadn't been one of the hotshot units like Red, Gold or Blue Squadron, only a unit that provided transport escorts, a medium sized raid from time to time, nothing really important. The change had been starting a few weeks before Dreis had left and Coreena had taken over after a particularly nasty raid session where Zifra had almost lost half of his crew. He had always been protective about the _Liberty_ but after this all the fighter squadrons aboard were reduce to mere interstellar taxi drivers and/or were given only light escort duties. No raids on Imperial transports, no attacks on Imperial strongholds, no rescue missions, no nothing.

Marcus would have laughed at someone telling him he'd someday regret a change to this but now he actually did. He wished they'd never run into this drag ship, they'd never tried to become a _real_ combat unit again if it only could bring Coreena and Jarvis back…

"Lieutenant Lochlin?" He looked up to see a young female Calamarian deck officer looking at him expectantly. If having turned her eyes towards him and blinking constantly really meant expectantly in Calamarian body language that was. He didn't take the efforts to be civil or politely, just said: "Yeah. What'dya want?" The Calamarian stopped blinking and the corners of her mouth twitched. Maybe it was the equivalent to a human smile. Maybe it was indignation. Whatever it was her tone remained even as she answered: "There are several things. First, your officer Lieutenant Kenzy is currently treated at our sick bay. Second is that we received a call from your commander, Captain Mallan, that she has some difficulties with her fighter and needs the assistance of a shuttle because her wing-man is unconscious. Normally some of our people are qualified to fly a shuttle but all of them are too inexperienced to even attempt such a mission. Commander Cranick asks if you can dispatch at least one of your pilots." 

In a split second his world had turned upside down just _again_. She was _alive_. Without further thinking he decided: "I'll do it. Where's your shuttle?" The Calamarian slightly tilted her head and her warbles twitched. Whatever this meant, it seemed to be good because she retorted: "If you would follow me…" Minutes later they stood before a big shaped something covered with a camouflage net which turned out to be a battered and old looking _lambda_-class shuttle which seemed to have seen even the Clone Wars. 

Just for once Marcus spared any derogative remarks about old piles of metal which still were called "ships" and just said: "Give me take off clearing and I'll be in orbit faster than you can spell "light speed"." The Calamarian bent down her head to nod and a few more minutes later Marcus actually was on his way to the two dots that marked Coreena and Flann. He just tried to ignore the strange and _unpleasant_ noises the ship made and did his best to get this flying piece of junk as fast as he could to his squad mates.

When he finally was there, he was hailed by Coreena: "Gray Leader to flying tin can, you really took your time, didn't you?" He let out a sigh of relief, feeling as if he had held his breath from the escape to now. Smiling he quipped: "Flying tin can to Gray Leader, yes, I'm happy to see you up and healthy, too." 

"Up, maybe but healthy… anyway, let's see what you can do for us. My R2's out, so I need some assistance with repairing my landing gear and the port control engines. You have still have your EV on or at least a vac suit with you in this… err… ship?" Luckily he had had enough brains to remember taking his helmet with him so he didn't have to rely on whatever worn and probably highly dysfunctional vacuum suit that maybe was lying somewhere around the unruly mess of electronic junk that filled half of the shuttle. He told her and waited for her affirmative. "Okay, then first look if you have some cable with you. Try to pluck it to Flann's fighter. You _know_ how to drag a ship through atmosphere behind you, don't you?" eHE He hüfldvkvwrvbhwerkhhkwgolhwglohwh   kuhiuhziuhzuiHe gave her an affirmative but in truth he'd only once done it in a simulator run. He hadn't been the worst – in fact he'd been one of the three best out of fourteen who had tried it – but a simulator run was _nothing_ against real life. He just hoped everything would work out fine. 

She went on with her instructions. "When you're done with this, come back. And bring a techy with you, we really need this to be done fast since I'm _starving_." He smiled. _Never argue with a hungry woman._ He agreed once again and began to work.

It had been three or fours standard hours Marten had been waiting for anything on Kenzy's status but the medics just insisted on "Rebel Alliance standard, meaning we don't give anything away about a patient status of health unless his or her immediate superior inquires anything", as one of them had put it. He had told them that her superior maybe was dead, that he had a right to know about her stats since he was her wing-mate, that he wouldn't tell anyone… But no, these pig-headed idiots just stuck to their stupid routine. They had tried to persuade him to see a doctor himself because of the black eye that was still circling his right eye and some cuts, burns and bruises the TIE-fighter attacks had given him but he had refused. Noquivzor was a base which had been founded not long ago and was still short of _every_thing from power cells over food to medics. He knew of at least one of his squad mates who needed medical care a lot more than him. 

Since she had been delivered into the improvised bunker that was the infirmary he had been pacing back and forth in front of it, only stopping occasionally to glance at the sky and look for arriving fighters or letting another stretcher with one of his comrades on it into the infirmary. From what he had gained from some talks between paramedics they had three severe cases, two medium injured and four light injured, totaling up to the remaining nine after the ambush.

He ran his hand over his eyes and paused for a moment, hearing footsteps coming towards him in a fast pace. He turned. Running towards him were Marcus and Captain Mallan. Well… they at least _tried_ to run. Mallan was clutching her left wrist tight to her body and somewhat limping and Marcus was stumbling beside her. When they were in hearing range he tried to hide a smile behind his hand.

"Slow down, Cap, slow down…", Marcus said, and it earned him an annoyed glance and a snare.

"Will you just _stop_ to… Ow! Get your fingers off my arm, you make it only worse!", she exclaimed and slapped him on his fingers with her right hand, at the same time wincing at the slightest movement. When they finally had reached him, she tried to regain some composure and said: "Well… did they tell you anything?" Marten laughed without humor and answered: "Yeah, that I don't have any right to be in there unless I give in and be treated myself." She looked at him and grinned as she saw the black eye. He noticed that she balanced carefully on her left foot while she take some of her weight off her right foot. _So _no-one_ of us got away without injuries._

He grinned at her and said: "They'll be _so_ happy to have just another patient." 

"You mean after they treated _you_?", she retorted and opened the door of the bunker but instead of entering she turned and looked expectantly at the men. "No-one volunteering for a back-up?" Both grinned with an embarrassed touch and finally Marcus said: "Sorry… but we originally agreed that we were definitely not injured enough to be allowed in." She made a face, returning: "You male pilots. Always the first to fight but when it comes to facing a medic… Now come on, or don't you want to spend your comrades a  little comfort?" They looked at each other, shrugged and followed her.

After brushing away the last non-existent piece of dust on his spotless gray uniform Captain Desra Tellik straightened and knocked at the door to Admiral Chesfer's private office. He knew why the admiral had called him but he would be drawing some delight from this nonetheless. 

The door slid open and Tellik walked in, bowing head in a curt salute and waiting for the admiral to answer. The bald, heavy-built man looked up form his data-cards and gave a salute back, then drew out a handkerchief and wiped over his bald head which was shining with sweat. Tellik had a hard time hiding a little self-satisfied smile. Obviously the announcement from Coruscant had reached the admiral. Well, either that or his frequent "visits" to the female prisoners in a section only few on the _Predator_ knew it existed. And which was one reason why Tellik detested Chesfer so much.

After clearing his throats and shifting some of the data-cards aside, Chesfer motioned him to sit down which Tellik did with the natural mix of stiffness and reserve of a throne-worlder raised in a typical middle class officer's family tradition. He waited several more moments until Chesfer was finally ready to speak. Then the admiral said: "Some hours ago I received a message containing a great honor and a great inconvenience at the same time. If you'd please read it…" Chesfer handed him a data-pad and Tellik took it with the greatest pleasure. He skipped the official and politeness parts and read:

_In one standard week from now you will have the great and inestimable honor to receive Lord Darth Vader himself aboard your flagship, the ISS _Predator_. His visit will have the time of about one week and will be extended if his further presence is demanded. The reasons for this visit are the Imperial Navy Regulations Book, here namely the section "Standard Performance Controls" with article four, paragraph two, sentence five, and the Imperial Intelligence Regulations Book with the section "Counter Intelligence and Inner Security", article five, paragraph six. Several occurrences in the last two months have made it necessary for us to investigate closer. As an attachment we sent you a list of rules and demands concerning Lord Darth Vader and his entourage._

Tellik knew all the regulations quoted in the letter and the warm feeling of absolute self-satisfaction spread through Tellik's body. He had made. He really had made it. He would be back in the Emperor's grace in a matter of days. 

The sound of Chesfer clearing his throat thrust him back in the present. "So… what do you think of this, captain?" Tellik turned to the admiral, took a breath and said: "Well, it seems that you called someone's attention on Coruscant. And maybe made an enemy or two." The admiral looked up, glaring sharply at Tellik and said: "What do you mean by this?" 

Tellik shrugged. "Just what I said. Just think about our fruitless attempts at capturing this Nebulon-B-frigate…" He let his voice trail and finish Chesfer the thought himself. The admiral huffed and once again wiped away the sweat from his forehead. "If our man would have made his work right this damned Gray Squadron wouldn't be interfering all the time. We should have gotten them two days ago. But instead we lost the _Fearless_. The third ship in two months. And we lost them to a _squadron_. Lord Vader surely doesn't come here to congratulate us on our achievements in spying on this rebel scum." Tellik nodded and found it harder with every moment to conceal a self-satisfied smile. Chesfer huffed again, then said: "You don't believe any o the crewmen tipped them off at Imperial Center, do you?" This was almost too much. But luckily Tellik had been taught to keep his countenance in _every_ situation, and so he just shook his head and said: "I would not be too safe about this. But as the excellent commander that you are and the pleasure being here is for every of your crewmen I highly doubt this." The last sentence had been an utter and blatant lie. What the One-Eighty First had been for fighter pilots before a certain Soontir Fel had taken on re-carving them, the IV. Battle Group was for navy officers. But it obviously seemed to satisfy Chesfer as a smile spread over his face and he finally dismissed Tellik after a short casual talk.

**A/N:** Ain't that _great_? Although I'm at my grandma's (who's got not even a computer) I can finish and up-load chapters because I had the foresight to bring my laptop _and_ a nice little cable I can go online with, with me! I _love_ modern technology  ^_^

Anyway, what do you think about this chapter? BTW, the idea with an Imperial spy on the _Liberty_ came to me while I was thinking about… err, never mind, just would have been a spoiler for further chapters… Well…, the idea is courtesy of Jane, my muse, and I simply love her for that ::pats Jane on the head, gets a bite in the hand from Jane, hops like mad through her grandma's living room:: Lord, this _hurts_. Ahem… anyway… at the moment I'm working on chapter 14 which maybe will contain some fighting scenes so it would be nice of my last reviewer, Sith… to help me with them. Well… what else??? Oh yes, my most frequent reviewer Mariko created her own website and I bet she would be sooooooooo delighted if you'd take a look at it, peeps. Oh, and I brought another story online in the "historical"-section about Jeanne D'Arc (which brought me two reviews already... woohoo ^_^), maybe you are interested in it as well.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen 

Night was falling on Noquivzor and Marcus prepared for his watch. He sat down at the fire and starred into the flames. So much had happened in only a few hours. His best friend since joining the Rebellion had died and he hadn't even begin to grasp that the man who had been his wing and room-mate for two years who always had had a joke on his lips, always a bet running, always some exotic drink or food in his locker… that this man was dead and would never again stride into their quarters and announce one of his strange ideas. Marcus sniffed lightly and tried to convince himself that the tears coming to his eyes were only result of starring too long into the fire. He rubbed his eyes and different thoughts were coming to his mind.

The thing about Coreena Mallan. One standard day ago he had thought that he had lost her for ever and it had scared him to death. His feelings for her had been there for quite a while – he dated them back to maybe the first time he had seen her vulnerable – but they had never influenced his decisions before. He would have to talk about this to her after this. Of course he dreaded it like nothing else but it would have to happen nonetheless. He just hoped that they would be able to still serve together afterwards since it would pain him if she decided to leave this squadron because of him… 

"Thinking about Banon?", a familiar voice said and a small smooth hand squeezed his shoulder shortly. He looked up to see the flames being mirrored in her mismatched eyes and forced a smile. "Yeah… sort of. And what are _you_ doing here so late?" She smiled a sad smile and sat down beside him, saying: "Couldn't sleep." He moved to make a little more space for her and looked at her from the side. "Your nightmares not better?" Coreena shook her head. "Nothing with nightmares this time… just doing some analysis." 

"I tell you, you're working too much.." She shook her head again, moving so she could face him. "No, Marcus, this is important. I… made some decisions. If we miss the _Liberty_ in three standard days we will not be calling them from here, nor anyone else. The coordinates of this world were entrusted only to us and the freighter crews and to no-one else and it will stay this way." He knew what she was alluding to since he had had the thought in the back of his minds himself since the ambush, and he said: "So you noticed it, too, huh Cap?" She nodded and said: "It was just one strange coincident too much." Marcus looked at his clasped hands and finally said: "What is your next step?" She was silent for a long time, telling him that she wasn't sure if she could really tell him. Then: "I have to inform the squadron. They have a right to know that I have to suspect _all_ of them, even… even you, Marcus, and even Banon." He smiled at the slight pause before she named him that told him that she felt more than just camaraderie between CO and XO for him and it was all he needed. 

"Cap…," But then he saw the look in her eyes and he knew that he'd never get it over with this speech, at least not now. There was so much more upon her shoulders she needed to work off that he let his original idea slip and just said: "you're doing the right thing. I'll be your wing whatever you plan is." She smiled again and said: "Thank you, Marcus, I know to appreciate this. Anyway…" She got up, careful not to strain her right foot too much and went on: "I think this analyzing finally got me. I'm going to get some sleep. G'dnight, huh?" He looked up. "Yeah. And be careful with that ankle…" She just winked and then disappeared between the fighters.

"You know… something's going on." Several heads came up, some fast, some slow as Telsij Cayr's drawl sounded through the room. They all considered her words and then H'sishi spoke. Something she hadn't done for what Cayr claimed to be a week. "You are maybe right. How long do you think did no-one come?" The woman sneered, then said: "A week and maybe a half, I'd say." Now it was R'siikhi's turn. "You think he forgot us after all?" Whares let out a humorless chuckle and said: "Wishful thinking, Control." Kesra was afraid that R'siikhi would react like he last time but she just shrugged and said: "Maybe. But whatever happened it saved us at least for a week. If Cayr is right, that is." Cayr just yawned and cocked an agreeing eyebrow. Then the room was silent again for several minutes until sobs penetrated the silence. Nobody apart from Kesra turned their head since everyone of them knew that the only one daring to sob in front of the others was Kat Deira. Not even H'sishi said anything but Kesra just couldn't ban Kardian's words from her mind, telling her how Deira had lost her child. Kesra had never had the opportunity to have a child although she was considered the right age to breed by her people but nevertheless she had seen what losing a child even before its birth could do to a woman. 

Slowly she walked over to Deira and said down beside her. "Hello.", she whispered and was surprised to find the human reacting to her greeting. Large, wet green eyes looked at her. She lowered her own gaze and, when the other woman didn't say anything, she went on: "Was its father still alive when… they go you?" Deira looked away and nodded. Then – to _everyone's_ surprise low raspy words came out of her mouth. "Yes… he… was a pilot. He didn't know anything and I… would have never told him." 

Dsa'Osra who seemed to have taken a special likening to the quiet technician came sauntered over and purred out: "Why not? If he loved you…" Deira shook her head and gave back: "No… no… it wasn't that… it… he was a _pilot_. If he had known that he was to become father he'd not be able to continue with his job. Aside from this… I… had a husband…" 

Anasu made a derogatory sound and said under her breath: "Oh no, not one of these stupid "love and betrayal" stories, again." Deira shot her a look no-one had thought her being capable of and said: "This is so typical. You hear three words and you think you know the whole story." 

Now it was H'sishi's turn. "Let her be in peace, Ana. And don't assume anything you don't know the whole story about." R'siikhi jumped from her cot and kicked the wall beside her. "Sithspit, Istr. Why do you always have to play the wise know-it-all?" Kesra could feel the tension rising up again and it didn't feel good in the least. Sure, all of them were having hard times and maybe for R'siikhi it looked like H'sishi was taking it the lightest of al of them but Kesra knew better. When they had brought back the Ishi Tip from her interrogation she looked worse than any of them had and Kesra doubted that Kardian had even seen her. She wished she could talk to the doctor again, trying to find out how far Kardian's loyalties to the Empire extended, how they could probably use her in planning an escape… 

"One of us has to maintain sanity, don't you think, lieutenant?", was H'sishi's answer to R'siikhi's outbreak and it was the sharpest Kesra had heard of the Ishi Tip so far. It told her that even H'sishi was on the verge of breaking and this she didn't like the least. She looked around and her sensors twitched at every movement the prisoners made. And then another sound – very faint but definitely there – reached her delicate hunter's ears. The sound of a steady breathing rhythm, like a breathing machine in sick bay, but different from a machine this sound _moved_. It was moving away from them and shortly before it finally vanished another sound penetrated her ears. A _voice_… grave, dark, like engineered through a microphone… Only one being in the galaxy had a voice like this. She whispered his name like a death sentence: "_Darth Vader_."

She had been trying to work on her R2 for two hours now but even if it was her left wrist that was in a splint working was harder than ever. Frustrated she threw away her hydro-spanner and put her head on the hull of her still not fully functional R2. 

"You need some help, Cap?" She turned to see a grinning Marcus Lochlin looming over her and snorted. "Do I look like it?" He crouched down and handed her the hydro-spanner, giving her another lop-sided grin and said: "Certainly not. I just tried to be a gentleman." She took the hydro-spanner and put it away in her tool-bag. Trying to get up she first scrambled away a little form her R2 and just as she was about to attempt to stand up with only one hand to lean on and one leg to stand Lochlin's hand appeared before her face. "If you allow…" Hiding a smile she made a face and took the hand, even allowing him to steady her when she had finally made it. 

He frowned at her, looking at the two splints she was wearing. "Don't I recall one of the medics say that your ankle was _broken_?" She shook her head. "No, that was my _wrist_. Anyway… I just might need a_ little_ assistance to get to the meeting place. If you please…" He smiled, offered her his arm and said: "Of course, my lady." She made another face but deep down she was delighted by the feeling of touching him.

Just before they reached the place she let go of his arm, and he didn't argue. By now he knew she sometimes needed to play the strong even if she didn't feel like it. It seemed to be a common trait with leaders but he wished she'd see that she didn't need to play the strong for _him_. 

Sighing he seated himself on a crate beside her. They had been on Noquivzor for two days now and he had the distinct feeling that she had grown as restless as him. He looked at her and wanted her to sit down but he knew she wouldn't when she was in her "fearless leader" mode which demanded that she stood upright. Making a face he put up a leg and settled in. 

"People, I have good news and bad news. Which do you want to know first?" The four that were assembled aside from him – Deraani, Randy, Marten and Nien – voted unanimous for the bad news. Marcus smirked at this but let her speak. "Okay… we have still two people who need intensive care and it will take at least another day to get the bacta tanks operational. Plus we will need some time to get the fighters fit for space again. But the worst thing is that… we were ambushed. I did some battle analysis and it seemed that the fighters knew pretty well which freighters to attack. One of the destroyed ones contained heavy dig machines and the other duracrete mass for underground buildings. And the ones with the most severe damages were the ones with the X-Wing spare parts, bacta… well, you get the picture. And additionally to everything the area where we were intercepted is an area normally not patrolled because there are no planets, no space stations, no hyperspace junctions, not even nav buoys. You know what this means." They nodded. Places like this were of no interest for Imperial forces. Maybe they were used as hyperspace corridors but they _never_ went through these places with sublight speed. She looked around to see their knowing faces and stopped at Marcus' face. 

He threw her a "You know how I think about this"-look and she continued. "One of us… is a spy." She hold up her hands to forestall any rumblings and continued: "Wait. That doesn't necessarily mean that one of us _pilots_ is the traitor but it has to be someone who at least knew or had the means to get to know the coordinates of our first jump-point. I wish I could say that I am absolutely sure that Gray Squadron is out of any suspicion but as the things are I have to have doubts about _any_one. Hell, even about _myself_. But I think that we can rule out us and the freighter crew because no-one apart from us and the freighter commanders knew the coordinates for Noquivzor because until now no Imp showed up here. Our time frame to rendezvous with the _Liberty_ is still open to another three standard days. We will _not_ contact them before that and _if_ we do it, we will do it from a point far enough from here. Any more questions?" They shook their heads and she went on just once more. 

"Now the good news: Flight Officer Kar'Esta is and on her way to recovery and Flight Officer Flann is still unconscious but stable. Lieutenant Kenzy will need another day or so they told me. But now the best: They have agreed to continue to share their food with us." The corners of her mouth twitched as her squadron mates cheered. Noquivzor didn't have to rely on Alliance food since there was enough game and wild vegetables to feed on. In the end she smiled but she also knew that the food and the news about their injured comrades didn't do much against the void that Banon's death had created. Different from D'Ar he had been a very active member of the squadron, always joking, keeping moral high… 

She hobbled over to the crate next to Marcus and sat down, still trying to look dignified and not too much disabled. She looked up and their eyes met. Coreena seemed to know what he was thinking and gave back a half smile, indicating she was alright. They would have to talk about this as well, he thought.

"Lord Vader! We are _so_ honored about your visit to our humble domain here…" The dark lord turned his fearsome mask to Chesfer and his grave voice penetrated the room like a vibro-knife. "Stop your chattering, admiral." Chesfer bobbed his head and obeyed instantly. He waited for Vader to sit down on the conference table deep in the belly of the _Predator_. When the dark lord had done it, he, Tellik and several other commanding officers of the IV. Imperial Battle Group followed suit. Vader let his piercing and impersonal black plast steel eyes sweep over the assembly and said: "I will not waste time with polite nonsense and the like as you all know why I am here." The officers nodded, everyone of them desperately trying to think about everything and nothing but in no case about anything _important_ since everyone knew that Vader somehow seemed to be able of reading others thoughts. 

When no-one spoke Chesfer saw it as the sign to begin with his short elaboration and stood up, a data-pad in his hand. "Lord Vader, fellow officers… I will now explain to you several occurrences from the past three months and put some facts right that Imperial Center obviously interpreted in the false sense." He waited a short moment, prepared to feel the mysterious chocking failing officers or officers who somehow insulted Vader, the Emperor or the New Order had to experience but when nothing came he went on, already feeling small drops of sweat running down his back. "It is right that we lost three ships to a squadron named Gray Squadron and its assistant squadrons from the Nebulon-B-frigate _Liberty_", he pronounced the name with just the right mixture of contempt and professional distance, "but it is wrong that we did it because of incompetence and human failure. It is merely the part of a bigger plan. The contact we were able to form on _Liberty_ told us about a new fighter base that will be built in our operating area. My plan was it to follow Gray Squadron and capture one of their pilots and his craft functional to gain information about the whereabouts of this new base since Gray Squadron is flying as an escort for transports to this world. We had to sacrifice the Interdictor cruiser _Fearless_ so that the rebels believe they are safe from new attacks but in truth the operation ahs only began. Our contact on _Liberty_ gave us a 90% assurance that one of the squadron's pilots will be transferred in the next two weeks and when this happens our Interdictor cruiser _Ruthless_ will be ready to partake in the first important step to crush a rebel base to dust." The room was silent again and Chesfer had a hard time keeping his dignity and air of authority when he sat down. Then, finally Vader spoke again: "I do not want 90% assurance or 99.99% assurance, I want _100%_. And I want this coordinates in a maximum of _one_ week. Until then I will stay on this ship and observe every stage of this so-called plan you patched together, _Admiral_ Chesfer, to be able to present me just _any_ lie. This meeting is closed." With that Vader stood up and rushed out of the room, his cape whirling behind him. 

Gray walls. A beeping sound, steady and somehow comforting. A strange damp feeling all over her skin. A figure leaning on the wall. 

"Will… you ever… let me… alone, Blenwell?" The figure grinned and came nearer, finally looming over her. "Captain decided to make me your new wing-man. Seems we're stuck with each other so I came to suggest we sign a peace-treaty." If she would have been able to by now she'd have spat on his boots. But so Kenzy only snared: "Oh no,… bastard. Not in my lifetime. Cease-fire… maybe, but no… peace treaty." His face came nearer as he leaned on the rail to her right side. She could see the usual mocking grin on his face falter and his face becoming more serious as he said: "I wouldn't say things like this all too loud. You may be conscious but you are nowhere from being out of critical condition." She was surprised to see him so serious and even… _concerned_, that she didn't say anything at first. Then: "I still… don't like it." He was about to pad her shoulder when he remembered that her complete right side was covered in burns and so he just cleared his throat and ran his hands through his hair instead, retreating a little from her bed. Grinning he said: "Me neither." If he didn't know it better he could have sworn to see her grin as well. 

He coughed again, and said: "Um… well… they told me they'd get you ready for the bacta tank soon so I better leave now, huh?" She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. He was surprised to see how much it stressed her and how low her voice was when she answered: "I… _hate_ bacta." Blenwell stepped nearer to her bed once again and leaned on the left rail, stating: "Who doesn't? But I'm sure there are worse things." With a sneer she retorted: "Yeah, having you as a wing-man." This time he touched her shoulder lightly and said: "We will make the best pair ever. If you make it through the bacta tank, that is…" Kenzy frowned at his touch and remarked: "Very funny, Blenwell." 

He fell serious once again. "There was no joking in it. I meant the part with the bacta tank. Don't do anything foolish and die just to annoy me." And as soon he had said it he had noticed how _stupid_ this had sounded. As if he _cared_ for her. Blenwell cleared his throat, retreating from her bed and just hoping that she didn't see him blush. And that she maybe hadn't heard it since he had said it in a very low voice. But too late. 

"I heard that, Blenwell. And when I'm out of this tank you will have to explain it." Blushing again with embarrassment he just mumbled something about really having to go now and hurried out of the room. Outside he let out a sudden rush of frustration and anger in kicking one of the bunker walls.

**A/N: **Um, okay… I had another A/N planed for this chapter but due to things even I can't remember (mostly just plain laziness… I think…) this chapter got delayed a little. I sincerely hope that I didn't annoy you too much. Anyway… what do you think about this chapter? How did you like the Dark Lord? OOC??? And what do you think about the scenes between Marcus and Coreena and the development of their relationship? Too fluffy? Too fast? Not interesting in the least??? Anyway, what more to say…? Oh, yeah, sorry to anyone of my reviewers I didn't spell right in the last A/N but you know how it is once you up-load a new chapter… I just got carried away and forgot to change the names prior to up-loading. I swear, I will correct this in the next big up-date session (meaning I will try to erase all remaining errors and replace every chapter) which is due in…let's say two weeks from now. Well… that's all for now. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	16. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen 

It needed three Noquivzor days – or approximately one and a half standard days – to get all Gray pilots out of critical condition and two more to get all the X-Wings at least operational enough to leave the orbit and travel a sufficient length of hyperspace to get the _Liberty_. 

At the end of the fifth local day Coreena had finally managed to repair Kal and was done with all tests. She leaned back in her cockpit and closed her eyes. In her mind she checked her to-do-list for the next day just a last time before she would go to sleep. The freighters had gone three local days ago and so she had to worry only about her people. She had re-arranged wing-pairings with now flying together her, Marcus and Flann as well as Krennel and Deraani altogether as One Flight and Kara and Nunb and Kenzy and Blenwell as Two Flight. If there was any trouble they would not be fighting, just trying to make a clean escape and hoping that the _Liberty_ found them before the Empire found them. When they were on _Liberty_ she would start looking for evidence at who the traitor was, whom he or she worked for, who were his or her accomplices… 

"Care for a round of story-telling?" She flinched at the sudden voice and looked down. _Marcus… just like always…_Coreena forced a grin and answered: "I'm sorry I have to disappoint you once again… but I've been working all day and I need some sleep…" Against better judgment and knowledge she hoped he'd gotten her hint and would let alone. _But he wouldn't be Marcus if he did…_ He climbed up her ladder and peered into her cockpit. "C'mon… you told me you'd socialize with the squad at the next best opportunity and what would be a better opportunity than a campfire, roasted game and some pilots with the burning wish to boast their minds out of their heads?" Smiling an honest smile this time she shook her head and answered: "Really, Marcus… I am tired out of my wits. And besides… I'm a lousy story teller." Grinning he climbed on the ship's "nose" and crouched down before her. 

Pretending to be indignant she folded her arms and looked away from him, stating with false offence in her voice: "If you don't leave my ship in one second I will personally force you to tell the whole squadron how you lost a very stupid bet to a certain Lieutenant Gattmann." The shock in his face was genuine and he held up his hands in defense, exclaiming: "Oh no, you'd _never_ do this!" She grinned a malicious grin, replying: "Wanna test me?" One second he was tempted to jump off the ship and leave immediately but then his resolution to win her over just once won, and so he lay down on his stomach, leaning on her HUD chassis with his forearms. He tried to look absolutely confident when he returned: "Whatever you are throwing at me, I'm not leaving until you consented to accompany me to the fire." 

Coreena was amused at his persistence and decided to let him dangle a few more minutes, continuing like this. But finally she heard him and said: "Okay… let's try it this way: I'm coming with you if you let me tell the bet story." Before he had actually understood what this meant he had consented, just taking the opportunity she was offering him. _When_ he had understood it, it didn't matter anyway because she was already climbing down the ladder. At seeing how she still had difficulties he offered her his help but was declined with: "The last time you helped me climb down this ladder you got me a sprained ankle. Don't want to take this risk a second time." And so he jumped down from the nose and waited at the bottom. But before they finally went to the fire he had to settle something. He had promised himself to talk about this "strong leader thing", and he would do it now.

When she was finally down, he cleared his throat and said: "Cap… there's something we need to talk about." She frowned and for just one second he was afraid that she thought of _another_ matter between the two of them, but she said: "If you mean this spy-thing…" Relieved he shook his head and continued: "No… no, it's about this "strong leader thing", you're always pulling. Don't look at me like this… I mean your "Nothing can stop me, not even a sprained ankle that makes it impossible to walk for me" attitude. I know it's an usual thing among leaders – Dreis and most of the other officers I served under were the same – but you got it down to an art. You didn't even let your ankle and wrist being treated with bacta when there were no other patients to care for at the infirmary, always mumbling something about having a lot of work to do and the like. Cap… _Coreena_… are you _punishing_ yourself with this?" 

Not seeming to understand him in the least she shook her head with a disbelieving expression in her face and the same tone in her voice when she answered: "Punishing myself? I… have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Where did you get this…" He ragged his hair, desperately trying to make her understand what he meant. "What I'm aiming at is that it seems that you want everyone else being relieved from pain as fast as possible but that you seem to _relish _in it. Or is there any other sensible explanation why you torture yourself with walking with a sprained ankle and working with a broken wrist?" She turned away from him, hobbling a little farther into the shadows the X-Wings were casting and away from possible prying eyes. With a little sigh she sat down on one of the crates standing beside her X-Wing. 

After shortly checking for his squad mates he came after her and sat down on a crate beside her. For a long while neither of them said anything, just to begin together all of a sudden. 

"I'm sorry…"

"You were right…" 

He grinned and gestured towards her to say her sentence first. "You… you were right, Marcus. At least… somehow. It's just that… the pain makes me realize, that… I'm alive… It makes me… _feel_." He looked at her hands. She may have looked calm and composed but her hands were betraying her nervousness. They never held still, the whole time. For some minutes he observed them, then stood up and finally put his own left hand onto her hands. She looked at him. What had been meant as a brief act just to calm her extended longer and longer and just as he was about to let her hands go she took his hand in hers and held on to them like she was drowning. When she spoke again, her voice sounded raspy and chocked. "I thought I was over it. I thought I could live on. I thought I could accept that they were gone forever. But you know what? They keep coming back, all of them. My mother, my friends, my teachers… They ask why I wasn't there. They ask why I ran away. They… scream at me… "Coward!", they say. "Traitor!", they say. But that's not even the worst thing." She let out a short humorless laugh, bordering dangerously close to hysterical. And all the time she was speaking she clung to his hand and he let her. 

After a short pause she went on. "When Alderaan was destroyed… when I heard it for the first time in the briefing by General Dodonna, everything inside of me denied it, although deep in my heart I maybe was the first of all the people in the room who _knew_ it. And then… the numbness set in. I don't know of _any_thing the General talked about and what the others said and… I just… sat there, feeling _nothing_. After this… I… I just knew I wouldn't be able to live any longer. I wanted to be with my mother, with my _people_. And so… oh, Marcus, I'm so sorry about this whole mess with the shooting…" 

Careful and almost tenderly he pried his left hand lose and put one of the usual lose strands of red hair behind her ear, smiling and whispering: "I already told you, I don't blame you. I came out of this alive so there's nothing more to talk about, really." She looked at him again, studying him, pursing her lips and he could almost feel the kiss that should have come but she only took his hand again and curled her fingers around his. He wanted to say something but she beat him to it, saying: "I'm still sorry to have inflicted pain on you. And I'm thankful that you came to me in this night in sick bay and that you stayed loyal. Your being such a good XO and _friend_ made it easier and it gave me back some of my sanity." This time her face was plastered with a tentative, yet still a little bit sad smile, and nothing could have made him happier. The only thing circling in his mind was the thought that she had called him a _friend_. He savored in it, he thanked her in his mind for just having made his _year_. But on the outside he just gave her a brief hug with his arm around her shoulders and said: "When I take someone's wing I'm in it, no matter what." Then he stood up, patted her shoulder shortly and invited her another time to the campfire. To his delight and surprised she took the invitation.

"You are joking, right?"

R'siikhi's face was plastered with disbelief as she looked at Kesra who finally had worked up the courage to share her knowledge with the others who were all staring at her. She shook her head and said in the low voice she had adapted since her imprisonment on the _Predator_: "No. I heard him. It can be only him." 

Cayr snorted. "I don't believe this. Where did you get the guts to kid us with the very bad joke that _Darth Vader_ is on board this ship?" Kesra resignedly shook her head and said: "I would never joke about this. I heard him through an airshaft. He is _here_." Whares who had been following the dispute now for one hour without saying anything, now added her share: "You know… _I_ personally think that Vader is just a COMPNOR invention to oppress the galaxy with fear. They just stuffed someone in that armor and then spun some story about "Dark Knights" and "the force" and such. He ain't nothing but a fraud if you ask me." 

Kesra counted down in her head how much time R'siikhi needed for a reply and stopped at four, when she heard the Lieutenant from Control say: "First: Nobody asks you. And second: _Every_thing's a COMPNOR lie to you, honey." Everyone in the room waited for the little Private to explode like she always did when she had some argument with Control as she had chosen to call R'siikhi but nothing happened. Whares just smirked and snorted, then said: "If you knew COMPNOR you wouldn't talk like this about them. But until you _get_ to know them fancy yourself lucky." 

The eyes turned towards R'siikhi but she chose to just grin and shake her head. And so everyone's attention turned back to Kesra who still tried to proof somehow that she _had_ heard Vader. She told them that Rodian ears were considered one of the finest in the whole galaxy, that she had the delicate and enhanced senses of a hunter, that there was no doubt… but her fellow prisoners preferred to ignore her efforts and stick to their joke-theory. And so she settled for her usual granite slug shell tactic and retreated into her own thoughts, hoping that Vader would stay a long amount of time since he seemed to distract Chesfer from his prisoners.

It was in the middle of the ship's night when suddenly Chesfer's comm ringing snatched him out of sleep. Grumbling he rolled over in his fairly large bed and grabbed the comm. Just before answering it, the remembrance that Vader was on board kicked in and he tried to sound composed and radiate a natural authority combined with just the right amount of obedience when he switched the comm on and said: "Chesfer here. What is it?" For one dreadful moment, he feared to hear Vader's voice penetrate the room but relaxed when he heard the normal human voice of Desra Tellik saying: "Tellik here, Admiral. Lord Vader wants to speak to you immediately, sir. I recommend to get to his quarters ASAP, sir. Tellik out." Chesfer laid back, his breathing becoming slightly more erratic and sweat forming on his forehead. What in the Emperor's name had he done to deserve this? 

Groaning he got up and tried to make himself look at least a _little_ more dignified. Wasting as less time as possible he dressed and walked out of his quarters, desperately trying to keep himself from panicking at the sheer thought of having Lord Vader let waiting to long. Chesfer had seen what had happened to people who had made lesser mistakes in front of the Dark Lord and the sudden memory of it did absolutely _nothing_ to calm the up-coming storm inside his mind. 

Taking a last reassuring breath he rounded the last corner before the open commanders briefing room and put on what he thought to be his most confident, yet serious and professional face. When he reached the door and stepped into the room, the big black-cloaked figure that was Darth Vader was already waiting, his steady, slightly asthmatic breathing filling the room and his masked face as unreadable as ever. Chesfer snapped to attention and bopped his head in a short and still obedient salute and waited for Vader to say anything. 

Finally, after several painful seconds of waiting Vader finally spoke. "Do you know why I summoned you here, Admiral Chesfer?" 

The Admiral shook his head slightly and retorted: "No, my Lord. Would please be so kind as to…?" 

Vader didn't wait for him to finish his sentence but went on straightforward: "You know that the week I have given you is half-over and there is still no change in the situation. What do you expect me to do about this?" Chesfer could barely keep himself from gasping in shock and surprise at Vader and said: "My Lord? Excuse me, I don't quite understand…" Vader shook his head in a curt movement and Chesfer could have sworn to hear a trace of impatience in the normally even engineered voice of the Dark Lord when he answered: "Oh yes, Chesfer, you _do_ understand full well what I am talking about. Where is that pilot you promised me? Why is your "contact" not sending any reports? I want _answers_, Chesfer, not _excuses_." _Think, Chesfer, **think**_. The Admiral cleared his throat and tightened the grip around the data-pad he had been carrying around with him. Finally he said: "I… I think that there are some difficulties since the last ambush we pulled on Gray Squadron. The last transmissions from the _Fearless_ and the reports from surviving crew-members and fighter pilots alike confirmed one dead among the squadron and several injured. They might have sought a secret hiding place where they are licking their wounds. I… I suggest we wait until they are supposed to rendezvous with the _Liberty_. If they don't show up there it is very likely that they will never show up again _anywhere_." He let out a slight huff and chastised himself inside of his mind immediately after it. 

For some painful seconds Vader didn't say anything, only starred at him with his transparisteel lenses and filled the room with his breathing. Chesfer could swear to feel a strange choke already to begin but was relieved when Vader finally spoke. "Your fear for failure is almost tangible in this room, and I _loath_ fear. But your fear has saved you for once since it brought you one idea that did not sound completely out of question. I will wait the amount of time you requested. But if this Gray Squadron does not show up at the rendezvous point and there are still attacks on our ships by this squadron afterwards someone on his ship will have to pay for that." Chesfer gulped. _That was a_ close _one_. As Vader said nothing more, the Admiral quickly replied: "As you wish, my Lord." Vader only nodded and swept out of the room.

A/N: After who knows how much time I finally found time to up-date. However, I really sincerely apologize to my beta-reader but I couldn't wait longer with my up-dates. I hope, you understand.


	17. Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen 

It had been one and a half standard day since her talk with Marcus which meant that her time frame for meeting the _Liberty_ had shrunken to almost impossible to hold. Luckily all of her people were at least close to being fit to fly again. They would be leaving Noquivzor in only a half of a day. In her mind Coreena went over her checklist just a last time, making sure everything would run smooth. Kal had plotted the courses they needed to reach the _Liberty_ in time and had given them to all the other astromech units. They had gone through all the emergency routines for at least four times now and had flown some orbit patrols to test the flying condition of the people who had been down. They had packed up everything, fueled their fighters and cleaned up their landing place. Now the only thing she needed was sleep. 

Sighing she got out of her cockpit and hobbled over to her sleeping bag. Thanks to the force her ankle at least seemed to have gotten better over the last time making her almost able to stand properly again. Looking up on the cloudless night sky for a last time Coreena crawled into her sleeping bag and snuggled in, trying to find as much comfort as possible since the journey to the rendezvous point would take at least one and a half standard day, not counting possible ambushes and the like. 

Sending a last Alderaanian prayer in the void of space she closed her eyes and tried to find some sleep.

"Gray Leader to _Liberty_ Control. Home again. Mind if we settle in?" A micro second of static hissing, then: "Of course. So much quieter without you." Coreena smiled slightly as she heard the snorts and comments of her pilots over comm and answered: "Very funny, Control. Bet you couldn't wait till we got back. Anyway… make sure there's no-one in the hangar who could suffer some damage, then let us in." The disembodied female voice snorted, then said: "Well… here you go. Hangar bay 2D. Control out." She frowned. 2D was nowhere from being their usual hangar bay but a bay situated a little lower and smaller than their normal bay 4A. It was barely fitted for nine X-Wings. Coreena cleared her throat  and hailed Control again. "Gray Leader to Control." 

"Hey, what're you waiting for? Get in that hangar and don't block the frequency, you're not the only one who wants inside.", another voice, male this time, barked at her and made her flinch a little but she answered as calm as possible: "It would be very nice of you to explain why we should take that cramped janitor's compartment." It was hard not to yell the last part but she managed quite well actually. The voice on the other side of the vacuum heaved a sigh and said: "I forgot… due to your little holiday you missed the arrival of some new pilots. Call themselves Biniir Blue Diamonds, and since they are more than you they got your bay. And please… could you discuss everything else when you arrive and with the right person? There are people here who have to work. Control out!" She shot a glance to her left side and smirked as she saw Randy shake his head in dismal. Finally she ordered them to land in 2D.

When he finally got off his X-Wing and came to stand on the clean durasteel deck plates he somehow felt at home even though landing in here had been more difficult than the whole trip to the _Liberty_. He took in the familiar smell of fuel, paint and a lot more unidentifiable lesser ones. After doing a quick check on his craft he sauntered over to Coreena's ship where she was doing a quick inspection of herself. Or rather something that would have been quick if she had been able to walk properly. By the time she was done the rest of the squadron was assembled around her ship, too. Marcus looked around.

All of them looked weary and tired and those who had received heavier injuries still bore some of the reminders. Saron Kenzy tended to relieve her right leg since there hadn't been enough bacta to heal all her burns while Pat Flann still touched the patch over his left eye where a heavy bruise was hiding under. He glanced at Coreena and received a look that told him she was thinking the same. All of them needed bacta treatment, a decent shower and some hours of sleep in a _real_ bed. Well, or something very close to that for that matter. 

She cleared her throat and drew their attention to her again. "All right, people, those of you who feel like they need to have a look into the infirmary go there – if they don't want to be _ordered_ there, that is – the others go straight to their quarters, have a shower and go to bed. The debriefing will be in 8 hours from now. Until then... enjoy yourselves. Oh, and check if there is anyone inside your quarters before you enter, who knows where they put those Diamonds people." Tired laughs and some smirks escaped her pilots, and then they slowly retreated one by one. 

Finally there were only Marcus and Coreena left and he said: "So… you want me to accompany you to sick bay?" She shot him a strange look and said matter-of-factly: "I'm not going to sick bay." 

Without a warning he slammed his hand on the nearest X-Wing hull and said through clenched teeth: "Sithspit, Cap. I thought we had talked that through." Totally unimpressed, it seemed, she replied: "I meant not now, Lieutenant." Then, however, a small laugh escaped her throat and it made him smile a somewhat embarrassed smile. He cleared his throat. "Care to tell me where you're going then?" 

She ragged her hair a little, then took her helmet, threw her R2 a "See you later" and then slowly made her way towards the hangar door. Finally she said: "I'm going to look for that Diamonds Leader and Captain Zifra because I want to know what this is all about." He shrugged. "You know… _I_ think they are just staying temporarily, maybe missed their rendezvous point or are some independent unit. I wouldn't spend too much thinking on them." She shook her head. "No, otherwise they wouldn't be staying in such a big hangar bay. I tell you, they will be staying longer and I want to know _why_. You coming or what?" She turned and looked expectantly. 

He smiled and said: "I was letting you win." Grinning she shook her head and turned again, making the most of her injured ankle, and he was surprised to see her gain quite some speed. After departing the hangar she took her comm and called Zifra. When he didn't answer she called again and this time her comm crackled to life and the distinct and somewhat cold voice of Zifra could be heard. "Zifra here. What is it, Captain?" Coreena didn't waste any time with formalities or such but came to the point immediately: "We need to talk, sir." A snort came over the comm. "I don't think so. You made your point clear last time we spoke and…"

"With all due respect, sir, there _are_ things that have to be talked about. We had a very nasty encounter on our last mission which let me to some interesting… assumptions. And I think that here there are some things, too, which need to be discussed or at least told to us." Some silence. Then: "Very well. Meet me in my office in the quarter of an hour then, Captain." She bit her lower lip for a second, then said: "Yes, sir. Mallan out, sir." Zifra closed the conversation and they went back to silence. 

After a few more steps she suddenly stopped and leaned on a wall, leaning back and closing her eyes a few moments. "You still sure you don't want to visit sick bay first, Cap?" Coreena's eyes jerked open and she said with a voice that told him otherwise: "Yes. I need to get this done. Zifra has to know if someone's suspecting one or more of his subordinates of spying. Imagine the fuss he would make if he would catch us sniffing around on our own. That would be a feast for him." Marcus scratched the back of his head, then said: "Yeah, that's the Captain. Listen... do you mind if I join you in the meeting?" She rubbed her wrist unconsciously and said: "Actually yes, but knowing you, I couldn't shake you off anyway, so… no. Just don't try to annoy him too much." A little almost devious smile crossed her features and told him she would hold a little longer. With that he was totally satisfied and so he said nothing to her final remark, just grinned and fall in step beside her again.

Commander Tom Rannan, squadron commander of the Biniir Blue Diamonds was in the middle of a Sabacc game with his XO, Lieutenant Marlin Rua, and two of his Flight Officers, Kesan Mayn, a young man from Commenor and Reslin, a female Mon Calamari, when suddenly his comm beeped. He growled and practically tore it out of his pocket. "Rannan here. What is it?" 

As the distinguished voice of Captain Gatton Zifra filled the room Rannan immediately regretted his harsh tone. "Watch your tone, Commander. I want you in my office in ten minutes. And not later. Is that understood?" Rannan didn't give him the satisfaction to let out an audible gulp and kept his voice as even as possible as he answered with a short: "Yes, sir." 

"Good. And I want your XO, too." Rannan nodded and said again: "Yes, sir." 

"Good. Zifra out." 

Growling again Rannan switched his comm off and looked at his XO. "Old bastard. He's doing that on purpose, Lin, I tell you." The woman chuckled and said: "As if you are such a young fellow yourself, Rannan. And you quite deserved it after that show you pulled two days ago." Rannan just snorted and threw his cards away. He got up, straightened his washed-out uniform and then said: "Always have to play my consciousness, huh, Lin? Well, I'll get you for that in our next Sabacc game…" She smiled only and retorted: "If we are ever going to finish one, you mean?" He took his jacket and grumbled: "Whatever." 

When she had gotten ready to go, too, they both said a short good-bye to their fellow officers on the table and made their way out of the overcrowded cafeteria. Finally out of it, she said: "So… what do you think he wants of us _this_ time?" He rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno. Maybe do us the favor and throw us off his ship for breathing the air of his precious crew or something. Really, I don' know. And to be honest… I don't care. It's about time we become an independent unit again. Five months together on the same ship as Nomo Morgan made that all the more important." His XO grinned. Nomo Morgan had been the first Captain to be able to tame the Diamonds a little, being strict but just and having the natural authority of a born leader. There had never been any friendliness between her and Rannan and the only thing that kept them – or, maybe only him – from jumping at each others' throats was the fact that they stood on the same side. The little private war between them had lasted five months and it had been him who had finally surrendered. Rua smirked a little at the memory of him – big, strong, growling Rannan – coming into her quarters and telling her he couldn't take that anymore. She could have told him from the beginning since she knew him long enough to know his love for freedom and inability to accept any leader above him he didn't respect. Why he hadn't respected Morgan was still inexplicable to her but she didn't question him. Normally he had good reasons for disliking people and she let it lye there. 

Rua glanced at her wrist chrono. "We're lucky, Ran. Three minutes too early. You should take me more with you, you know." He simpered and said: "Only in your dreams, Curly." She showed him her teeth and stuck out her tongue. He knew how she hated that nick name since he had given it to her himself on their very first meeting two years ago. A little annoyed she turned away from him and smoothed her short dark curls out of her face. Rua knew very well that he was grinning evilly behind her back because he knew she never could stay angry with him for long. She glanced at her chrono again. "One minute. Time to get in, I'd say." He just nodded and just as he was about to knock another pair appeared in the hallway. 

With an interested look in her eyes Marlin turned and observed the two. She seemed about 27 to 29 years old – though pilots' faces often betrayed the ages of their owners –, had her red-blond hair tied back in an obviously very lose plaid, had her left wrist in a splint and was hobbling a little, trying to go easy on her right foot. Her flight suit looked as if she hadn't changed for at least a week and had several large dark spots on it which might have been blood. His flight suit looked the same, so Marlin assumed they somehow belonged together. She let her gaze travel back to his face and estimated his age in the space from 26 to 28. He didn't seem to be injured in any kind but was clearly as tired as his female companion. 

She glanced at her chrono again. The ten minutes were up, so she nudged Rannan to knock, and immediately got a "Come in." from the inside. Just as they were to enter and close the door, a female voice behind them shouted: "Wait!" Marlin turned to see the woman with the red hair trying to be even faster than before with the man constantly trying to assist her. It earned him only an annoyed look and the words: "Hey, remember what happened last time you tried to help me?" 

He grinned and said: "Yes, you got up and walked over to the fire." She made a face and retorted: "You _know_ what I mean…" After two or three more sentences of bickering they had reached the door to Zifra's office. Before they could introduce themselves an impatient voice from the inside of the office called: "You can exchange formalities later, I want this meeting over as soon as possible." 

With his usual "I don't give a damn"-face Rannan entered the office and Marlin just hoped he wouldn't behave his usual self around people like Zifra just for once. It would save them a great deal of trouble, and they could use a little peace. She heard the hiss of the closing door. Finally they were all in the room. She glanced around. The woman – a Captain by her rank insignia – looked as though she was to collapse any minute but she seemed not even the slightest bit aware of it, and her subordinate – at least Marlin estimated him to be since he bore the rank insignia of a Lieutenant – didn't look much better. She sincerely hoped Zifra would let them sit. 

This, however, seemed to be none of _his_ objectives since he just returned their salutes and leaned back in his chair. He then made a move with his hand which included them all and said: "Maybe some introduction would be useful." He looked at the starfighter Captain. "Captain Mallan, commander of Gray Squadron, and her XO, Lieutenant Marcus Lochlin." He moved his gaze to Marlin and Rannan, whose face looked like a mix of surprise and disbelief and something she couldn't quite place. Was it conceit? Contempt? Or just dislike of some sort? Obviously Rannan knew that woman and Marlin was determined to find out what their connections were. 

She noticed, just before Zifra introduced Rannan und her to Mallan and Lochlin, the look on Mallan's face changed almost the same as Rannan's had. Lochlin seemed to have seen it since he gave her a strange look. _Jealousy?_, Marlin thought, but dismissed it. They didn't seem to her like they were anymore than squadron mates, superior and subordinate. Someone to her left cleared his throat and she turned towards Zifra again, standing half at attention. "Well… Captain Mallan asked about the reasons why you are here. Do you mind if I explain, Commander Rannan?" Rannan just shook his head, and Marlin could see the anger building up inside of him, but she wasn't entirely sure anymore if it was only because of Zifra or more because of Mallan. 

Zifra cleared his throat and continued. "With great reluctance I forwarded your request for enforcements and the Blue Diamonds are the result of this. They came from the fighter carrier _Starfield_ and are assigned to the _Liberty_ for the time being." Marlin looked over to Mallan who had let out a something that sounded suspiciously like a suppressed exclamation of disbelief. She coughed and said: "Sir… this is all we got? A _fighter squadron_? No offence to you, Rannan…", she held out a hand to Rannan who shook his head slightly, "but… Sir… We have to fight a _battle group_ and all they sent us is a _fighter squadron_?" Marlin and Rannan winced at the same time, and when she looked at him she braced herself for one of his famous outbursts. "A _battle group_? We are here to fight a _battle group_? When did you plan to tell us this, huh, Zifra?" 

The Captain's face turned into a deep shade of purple as he jumped up and threw his hands on his desk. From the corners of her eyes Marlin could see how Mallan put her hands over her eyes and shook her head. Zifra's voice was very low when he spoke but in Marlin's ears it was louder than any yelling could have been. "I said it before and I'm saying it again: Watch – your – language, Commander. You will address me by my correct rank designation and with sir. And you are not to question my style of commanding. I will tell you orders and information when I choose to. Now, out of my office. All of you." For a few seconds none of them said anything. Then Zifra's face seemed to turn even more purple if it was possible and said through clenched teeth: "I said: OUT!" The last part was yelled and everyone scrambled out of the room in a most unruly fashion out of the room. 

It was Rannan who spoke first after Zifra had thrown them out, saying: "Well, that was fun, huh?" Marlin rolled her eyes and could see Captain Mallan doing the same. The woman snorted and said: "I really thought that you would have learned at least _something_ after two years, Rannan." Half amused, half alert Marlin watched Rannan reply, snarling: "Well, you didn't seem pretty busy with learning yourself, Mallan, or so I've heard." Mallan opened her mouth to shot him a reply but her XO was faster, holding up his hands and saying: "Would anyone mind telling me what exactly is the problem here?" Marlin crossed her arms and nodded in acknowledgment but Mallan just shook her head, saying: "Later, Marcus." And her own CO only growled at the male Lieutenant. This, however, didn't seem to satisfy Lochlin since he addressed her a second time: "No, I think, I want to know it now, Coreena." A sharp look came from Mallan's eyes and she said with a little more force: "I said, later and I _mean_ later, _Lieutenant_." Marlin said nothing, merely observed the two noting that there obviously was more under the surface than she thought at first. However, Rannan finally said: "I have some things to do, Mallan, so I hope you don't mind me going and taking my XO with me." Knowing Rannan, Marlin recognized that he was giving her one of his hinted orders, so she just said a short good-bye to the Gray Squadron officers and followed a fuming Tom Rannan back to his office. 

Coreena on the other hand finally went to sick-bay, with a slightly less than Rannan agitated Marcus in tow. Inwardly she sighed. She knew he would be like this as long as she didn't tell him what he wanted to know since he always got what he wanted in the end. But upon reaching sick-bay he suddenly turned and attempted to go to his quarters but a quick and somewhat hasty decision forced her to say: "Hey… wait. I'm sorry…" He turned, his looks still stern. "Sorry for what, Captain?" Suddenly she felt like back in third grade when one of her teachers was waiting for an answer from her she absolutely couldn't get right. This was just downright ridiculous. "For snapping at you in the hallway. It's just…" He came back a few steps, standing right in front of her, non-chalantly hands in his pockets, his eyebrows cocked somewhat interested: "Yes?" She ragged her hair, the stress and exhaustion finally showing through fully. "I didn't want to discuss that right in front of Rannan." 

He frowned it. Whatever she had to do with the big brawling git it obviously wasn't what he thought it was. He gave her a half-smile. "Whatever this is about… it can wait. And apart from it all… I shouldn't have asked anyway since it is none of my business." She leaned on an empty cot and fiddled with her hair again. Then she said: "Well… probably you're right but I'll tell you anyway when I'm out of the infirmary. Deal?" He smiled again, this time a full smile, agreed and she knew the tension that had been building between the two of them had eased. 

According to Cayr's time sense it had been three full standard days now that Chesfer hadn't even bothered to pay them one of his occasional "observation visits" and it started to make them somewhat itchy. All of them had been unusually nervous, grumbling and easy to intimidate, even considering their status as prisoners of war with technically no hope of escape and the resulting personality change. R'siikhi and Whares argued more than ever, Deira's sobs could be heard a lot more often now, seemed even frequent, Anasu kept pacing around the cell if she wasn't sleeping and even Cayr's demeanor somewhat lacked her usual air of disinterest and boredom. Kesra observed all this and wondered why they all felt this strange kind of nervousness, including herself. Logically they should have been glad that for once Chesfer was giving them time to breath but maybe it was the _source_ of it all which made them feel so uneasy. If he had forgotten them that might mean that they someday maybe would get no more food, no medical treatment, maybe not even air… they would starve and die a very, very slow and painful death and no one of them – not even Kat Deira or Kesra herself – wanted to die, despite everything Chesfer had done to them. 

And additionally Kesra wasn't so sure about her Vader theory after having heard nothing more of after that faint sound coming from a hallway somewhere on the ship. The tenseness and the fights among her cell mates made her crankier everyday and by the third day she was ready to give R'siikhi and Whares some crab of her own. It were those two who vexed her especially. Not Anasu's pacing, not Deira's silent crying, not H'sishi's stern face that had replaced her usual calm expression. R'siikhi and Whares' bickering made her sick because it gave her the feeling of division among the prisoners, the feeling that Chesfer was finally wining. 

"Don't give me that Bantha dropping, Commandoes. You _know_ that you're just one little soldier that's expandable. And so is everyone of us. Don't expect anyone to come after us." Kesra looked up and R'siikhi's agitated voice carried over to her place. She groaned under her breath and leaned back, closing her eyes. Whares' voice sounded through the room in a snap as she replied: "Come after _you_, you mean. I mean, who would miss you…?" This was enough for Kesra. She stood up and exclaimed: "Will you just _stop_ it?" Both looked at her, together with the rest of the prisoners. She stood there, slightly panting and staring at the banter pair. After a moment of perfect silence she spoke up again. "You've been bickering and bantering and fighting almost nonstop for three days now. You made it impossible to sleep, eat or just be in peace for three days for all of us. You acted with no regard for anyone of us. You forgot we are under surveillance and gave them the very, _very_ strong impression that we are divided, that maybe someone of us will _break_, will _betray_ the others. Sithspit, you could have done just that already. So will you just save us a lot of trouble and _shut the hell up_!" The last part was half yelled, and Kesra was panting even more. Everyone was silent for a long second.

Then, finally R'siikhi spoke up. "Do you really think that it still matters that we hold together? Do you really think that holding together and shutting up will save us somehow? I don't think so. Believe me when I tell Commandoes and all you others that we are nothing more than brave little soldiers and unimportant civil employees. There will come _nobody _to rescue _us_. _Face it, dammit._" The control officer huffed and sat down, glancing around, checking everyone of them with her penetrating stare. All except Kesra tried to avoid her stare, even Private Whares. The Rodian raised her chin and stared back defiantly. The staring duel lasted approximately 5 more seconds, then finally R'siikhi lowered her gaze and cleared her throat. After that everything went quiet but somehow it was even worse for Kesra than the bickering.

A/N: Again, sorry to my beta-reader for up-loading this without having him read it but really… I wanted to do this like thousand years ago…


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**Chapter Seventeen**

He found her sitting in a booth far away from the other pilots and ship personnel, reading something. "Letters from home, Lieutenant?" Kenzy jumped a little but caught herself amazingly fast. She looked up and once she found out who had said the previous words her gaze somewhat hardened. "Even if they were, it would be none of your business, Flight Officer." 

Against her hopes he sat down, opposite of her and faced her. "So they aren't?" Why in all the galaxy was he suddenly interested in what she read? She gave him another hard glance, huffed and told him to back off. Blenwell, however did nothing and stayed. "You obviously missed my point in my previous remark so I will tell you what it meant in a fashion even _you_ should understand it." The next sentence she said very slowly and put emphasize on every word. "This is none of your business." He just grinned and continued to bug her about the data-pad in her hand which she finally threw away in exasperation. "Alright, this isn't about some stupid newsletter, right? This is about something else. So… spill it. What's your problem?" Blenwell grinned one of his ever so unnerving lop-sided grins. "Well… for a Lieutenant, you certainly _are_ a bit slow… Lieutenant." The last word he added with just the right amount of hesitating. She swore inwardly. This man drove her nuts. "Okay, _Flight Officer_, what the hell is this about?" The man cleared his throat and became suddenly a lot more serious. "Lieutenant… did the Captain speak to you about… certain… assumptions she made on… No… our target?" Saron knew what he was talking about. Captain Mallan had spoken to her even while she had been in sick-bay about her speculations about a spy on the _Liberty_. She cleared her throat and said: "Yes… but I don't think that discussing it _here_ would be a good idea. We… should leave here if you really want to talk about that." To her surprise he just nodded. "And I happen to know just the right place. If you'd be so kind a to follow me, Lieutenant?" Inwardly she shook her head. Obviously this was _really_ important. When they were out of the canteen he quickly whispered: "Get your work-out clothes, Lieutenant. You know where to meet me." She made a face and sneered: "Oh, I could have decided for _that_ place, too." He just grinned a humorless grin and hurried to get his clothes. 

They were on patrol and growing pretty bored. Seven and Eight – Reslin and Steva – were playing "Space Battle" via comm and Rannan did nothing to prevent it. He just wished he could have been able to convince Marlin to install it in her computer, too, but his XO had been just as sensible and dutiful as ever. He sighed. Marlin Rua was one of the most sensible and dutiful people he knew and she still could put up with every crap life threw at her. Her X-Wing didn't have _any_ modification or "altering" that was against the handbook at all. She flew by the book and she was punctual and she practically made up for every failure he had. But she _still_ was one of his best pilots. 

He looked around in his canopy and saw Flight Officer Reslin's X-Wing fly by. The female Mon Cal's craft on the other hand was the most modified in the whole squadron and probably the most suited for the kind of missions they normally performed. It had the normal shape of an X-Wing but when you took a closer look at it you saw that it's outlines were slightly softer and more elegant than a normal X-Wing's outlining. Rannan knew that Reslin had a highly sensitive long range sensor pack, just like a recon X-Wing but without the disadvantages in flight maneuvering. He also knew that her shoot precision was about 50% higher than that of the rest of the squadron mostly because of her skills as a weapon technician. She shot him a short look with her artificial eye and then was gone for another round along the hull of the _Liberty_. Rannan sighed again. 

Just as he was about to lean back, close his eyes for a while and let his R2 do the flying the light that signaled that his XO was hailing him on their wing-pair frequency blinked. He switched the comm to their frequency and Rua's voice flooded his cockpit. "I was bored, Ran, and figured that if _I_ was bored you'd be sleeping by now." He could practically hear her grin through the comm and he grinned, too, as he answered: "Well, you certainly _do_ know me well." Her laughter sounded over the comm. He liked it. It reminded him that there were other things out there than war and tyranny and suffering. He smiled, and she retorted: "Anyway… care to tell me what it is with you and Captain Mallan? You don't seem very fond of her…" Rannan let out a sigh that sounded a tad more too dramatic to be real and said: "Well… let's just say that we served together and it was not the best of time of either our lives." 

"Oh, _now_ you have my _full_ attention." He could very well imagine the intrigued smile that by now was certainly illuminating her face. If Marlin Rua had one failure it was curiosity and the overwhelming fondness of gossip but even that Rannan didn't count as a full-fledged personality flare, was more inclined to find it an endearing trait of hers that cut in the same notch as her laughter. 

The sound of her clearing her throat came over the comm and he finally said: "Well… we served together one year with the Tierfon Yellow Aces, and we had a kind of best enemies relationship. I always had the feeling that she was a kind of a protégée for our commander because she was the only woman and she… let's just say she didn't like my way of solving problems. But on the other hand… there were some really nasty guys among the marines on the ship we were on who pulled some nasty things and I didn't like to see that so I kind of began to… act protective once we were around those people. I mean… she was _my_ damn object of dislike." Up to this point Marlin had been silently listening but now she barged in: "So you are saying it was okay if _you_ bullied her but other men weren't allowed to do that? Man, Ran, you _are_ a very strange man." 

"Not any more stranger than other people I know. Anyway, our commander – a certain Captain Kre'Fey – obviously mistook my actions for something I never implied." He could imagine the frown on her face as Marlin answered: "Are you saying that he thought you had "romantic interests" in Captain Mallan?" He nodded and said: "Well… he didn't use the exact words, but alright, yeah, that's what he thought. But you know, I wouldn't have minded if Kre'Fey had just let it lye there. But no, that stupid son of a Bothan bitch assumed that I was making "unwanted advances" toward Mallan and gave me quite the lecture about how to treat fellow female pilots and a serious threat to ruin my career if he would ever hear something about it again. And stupid man that I was I didn't even ask what had led him to such assumptions. I just presumed that it had been Mallan. The whole affair ended in a real big serious battle of the words between Mallan and me in which I accused her of using the fact that she was female to ruin other pilots' careers and her telling me what an insensible and emotional idiot I was. At the end both of us handed in a request to leave the squadron as fast as possible." There was a bit of silence but then Marlin finally spoke up in a thoughtful voice. "Did you ever find out if it was really her who had led Kre'Fey to his assumptions?" Another minutes of silence, then: "Yes."

"Uh-huh… and?" He squirmed in his seat as if she was sitting right in front of him and giving him one of her patented "I want to know, and I won't leave until I know it"-looks. Finally he gave in, as always. "She didn't tell him anything like this. Kre'Fey had just heard the rumors going around the squadron and had formed his own opinion about it all. He never even asked her." Rannan could hear a faint knocking sound over the comm. Marlin had tried to slap her forehead but had been stopped by her helmet. She just said: "D'uh, Rannan. And am I right that you never apologized?" 

"Well, yeah, it's a matter of pride." He could hear a grunt and something that sounded suspiciously close to "Men!", then heard her say: "No, it's a matter of stupidity." In a bout of feeling of duty she added a half-amused sounding: "With all due respect… sir." Rannan grinned. "So what do you suggest, Lieutenant?" It was rare that they called each other by their ranks rather than their names. Rannan normally called Marlin by her rank when he either wanted to mock her or when he was seriously angered by something she had done. Now it seemed more like the first, even if it lacked some of the usual mocking and irony. She sighed and finally said: "Well… at first you really should somehow get around and apologize to Mallan, even if it is in your very own, very special way." _Although I doubt that she would understand it._, Marlin added mentally. Rannan's way of apologizing was so confusing that she had needed two weeks to understand what he had wanted to say when he had first apologized for dressing her down unjustified. 

"What did I do wrong _this_ time, that you want to me to be embarrassed so badly, huh?" This was so typical of him. Normally it was not her who received the reprimanding remarks from him but the other way around. She mentally shook her head. So much was strange in their superior-inferior relationship. _Probably because_ he _is strange._, she thought and smiled. No, it wasn't quite right, he was not strange, just _different_ from her. While she was the calm, reasoning and sensible one he was the chaotic, impulsive and emotional one. And even if he liked to mock her, try to outwit her and then and there test her tolerance he still accepted the advice he asked her for and gave her the feeling that she was more of an equal than a Lieutenant. She smiled as she answered: "Nothing. But you have certainly seen yourself that we need to work together with Mallan and her squadron and that certain animosities between the commanders do nothing to help the cooperation, haven't you?" For a moment it sounded like he was seriously sulking but then he agreed just as earnest as her. 

"So… what was it you wanted to talk to me about?", Kenzy said and stretched her arms and rolled her head to loosen her neck. If she had to be here she could as well have a real workout. Blenwell seemed to be thinking the same, since he did some warming up on the treat mill, too. He gave a slight huff and said: "How much did the Captain tell you about her presumptions?" 

She gave a tentative air kick and winced as she felt her sinews, muscles and bands protest. She settled in for another round of leg stretching and replied: "As much as you, I think. That she has the strong suspicion of a spy among us, that she can't rule out us, not even herself, that she tries to find out more and wants us to have an eye open for everything suspicious." He nodded and his running became slower until he stopped and began some stretching himself. Then he said: "Well… I think I found something…" She raised an eyebrow. "And…?" Blenwell did a series of air kicks and punches while speaking to her in short staccato sentences, following the rhythm of his movements. "One of my mechanics… she did an awful lot of navcomp… analysis. She had done it… before _all_ of our… escort runs. Said there seemed… something wrong… with it." He ended his warming-up and took a stance before her. "Ready for some real workout?" She grinned. "You mean like the last one?" A kind of painful grin darted across his face but then his features became even again. "Well… yeah." She took her hand-to-hand combat gear – or, more precisely, just the strips she had worn the last times, out of her small bag and fastened them around her hands. 

They took their stances on the mats, but never stopped talking while they exchanged kicks, punches and blows. "So… you think _she_ is the one? Then what about the encounters with those imperial forces while we were not on the _Liberty_?" With a quick movement she dodged a kick from him, while he answered: "Well… you have a point there. But maybe it's not only _one_ spy but a whole _group_ of them?" She aimed a quick series of punch-kick-punch at him and hit him two times. Grinning she replied: "You may be right. Did your mechanic do something else than just analyze your nav data?" He answered her hits with some kicks aimed at her side. One of them scored. "Not that I noticed. But all of those mechanics have access to our fighters the whole time." 

He aimed another blow at her but she grabbed his hand and used his speed to twist him around and throw him to the ground. Quickly she sunk heavy onto his chest and made it quite hard for him to get up. She grinned at him and said: "Well… maybe. How long do you know this mechanic? Have you trusted her before? Would you suspect something if you wouldn't have been told of the possibility of a spy among us?" The questions shot out like laser shots out of an E-Web Blaster. Her knee on his chest made it a bit harder to answer but he managed it nevertheless: "Two years and some months, yes, no. And now…" Suddenly his legs came up from behind her and came around her neck. They hold on to her like a clamp and suddenly he was on top of her. It just earned him a slight grin and an answer: "So… it was a good idea but not good enough." His hands came down beside her head and out of the blue his nose was just millimeters away from hers. "So… who won this time, Lieutenant?" Her answer was a grin, a hard punch in the side of his face and a satisfied "Me." 

Satisfied, Saron stood up and wiped her hands on her short leggings. Groaning and rubbing his jaw, Blenwell tried to get up. "You wouldn't lend me a hand, would you?" Grinning she shook her head and retorted: "After what you did last time I tried to help you? No, Flight Officer. And I'm not even sorry about it." He stared at her for a heartbeat and was puzzled. Only after several seconds it dawned on him what had irritated him so much. The words she used had been the same like always – full of scorn and even malice – but the _tone_ she had used was only a little scolding, even playful. Briefly he thought about teasing her a little but decided against it when the throbbing pain in his jaw reminded him of how hard she could punch when she felt intimidated. 

He finally got up and threw her a look. She stood with her back to him, taking a long sip from her bottle. Once again he noticed her well-shaped legs and backside and almost at once kicked himself mentally for having strange thoughts about her. Just as he was about to finally draw his eyes back from her, she turned around and threw him one of her famous disapproving looks, stating in a matter-of-factly voice: "You're doing it again." He tried to feign innocence and ignorance, saying: "I'm doing _what_?" She heaved a sigh. "Seizing me up. Oh, we both know you've been doing it. And we both know that I don't like it." Blenwell just merely nodded, for the moment obviously at a loss for words. Kenzy seemed to have sensed it since she only grinned, and at that moment she looked like her old rancor-self.

After some more silent moments she cleared her throat and asked: "So… did you speak to the Captain about your observations?" Drying his face with his towel he shook his head and said: "I would have, if I could have found her." Kenzy grinned with the hint of arrogance. "Well, she's been in her quarters after she came back from sick-bay." He dried his neck and eyed her suspiciously. "Since when do you know where the Captain is when you have only escaped sick-bay 5 hours ago?" Kenzy shrugged and packed her bag. "Since I'm her new room-mate." Packing his own stuff, he said: "Well… I wouldn't want the Captain for a room-mate. At least not when she has her blaster at hand." The look she threw him made clear that he had done something she considered very near to treason. He expected her to yell at him and threatening have him discharged or even wore, but her look just turned into a cold, calm one and she said: "I don't think that was very funny, Flight Officer." With that she took her bag and swept out of the room. 

_Well,_ he thought, _that was certainly not a very bright thing to say._

"Admiral on the bridge!", the crewman shouted and Chesfer strode in, as confidently as one could manage when he was coming back from a meeting with the Dark Lord of the Sith. Vader had given him another ultimatum, and the Dark Lord's impatience and anger over Chesfer's obvious incompetence and the uselessness of the spy aboard the _Liberty_ had been almost tangible in the room. Never had Chesfer been _so_ happy to leave a meeting room. He cleared his throat and took the command chair in front of the huge main window. 

The Admiral closed his eyes, for a brief moment, then called out: "Ardin, to me. ASAP!" Someone in the crew pit jumped up immediately and ran towards the command chair. He saluted, bopping his head and his breathing was just a little bit too erratic to conceal his excitement. The Admiral merely nodded and said: "I want every possible bit of information we got form the _Liberty_ from the last two days. And then I want you to give them to Navigation, together with the orders to plot a course to the most probable point where they will be vulnerable, such as rendezvous points with supply freighters, enforcements, everything like that." The crewman nodded, saluted and left when the Admiral gave him the dismissed-signal. 

Slowly Chesfer brought his fingertips together and set his head against his clasped hands, giving Navigation 2 Minutes time to plot the course, then calling out: "Navigations! How long until the first rendezvous point with _Liberty_?" A timid voice answered almost unintelligible over the normal bridge sounds: "One day, sir." He growled. Why was it always his ship they sent the incompetent and foolish ensigns to? Filling his voice with as much scorn and authority that was necessary he called out: "I did not understand one word, Navigation! Tell me again. And this time so I can understand it properly or you'll face kitchen duty as the least of your punishment." The voice that shouted back this time obviously belonged to someone either more experienced or simply more daring. "One day, sir!" 

Chesfer nodded only slightly and finally sat back in his chair. Maybe he finally managed to get away some from Vader's iron grip.

"'Morning, Cap.", Marcus said and tried to stifle a yawn. Smiling she noticed it but let it slip. They were all still a little tired after their last secret meeting. After Kenzy had told her about Blenwell's assumptions, she had summoned her pilots to the deserted pilots' rec-room to an emergency meeting. It had turned out that not only Blenwell had noticed something fishy but also at least 3 more of her people had had various strange encounters with other crew-members. In the end they had easily overdone the estimated two hours. 

Groaning she sat down and put her head on the table. "You alright?" Her head shot up again and a somewhat groggy smile greeted him. "Yep. Never felt any better." Moving around his fork in his food a little he gave her a half-smile and said: "I can see that very clearly, Cap." They ate in silence a little when he finally broke it and said: "Cap?" She looked up. "Yes?" 

"Didn't I recall you saying that you would explain to me what this mess with Rannan is all about?" One moment she looked like she would just ignore the comment and go on eating but then obviously decided otherwise, put down her fork, took a short look around the mess hall and then said: "Alright. As your CO I owe you as much, I guess." He merely nodded and she went on, telling him about her little private war with Rannan while they both served the Yellow Aces and about the quarrel that had ended their working relationship. He smirked. "So you're saying it was all a huge misunderstanding?" She grimaced back. "Yeah. And he was so concerned about his career and all he wouldn't even let me tell him the truth. I guess it was a good thing we parted ways in the end. He just infuriates me and I'm too much by the book for his liking. We would have made an awful wing-pair." Marcus shrugged. "I don't know. I talked to his 2IC and to me it seemed that she was a lot more "by the book" then you…" 

In the moment the alarm claxons sounded throughout the ship and they all scrambled to their feet immediately. By the second "All personnel to their stations. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is _not_ a drill" both Mallan and Lochlin had almost reached the hangar and almost bumped into various other squad members. When the first incoming torpedoes shook the _Liberty_ the squadron was completely out in the open. In a back corner of her mind, Coreena was proud of her people. And of herself since it was her that had insisted on drills after drills after drills after the first surprise attack she had had to experience aboard _Liberty_.

Outside the hangar it was such a turmoil none of them could recall to have seen, not even the veteran pilots. Six capital Imperial ships were hanging in space and exchanging blows with the _Liberty_. When she scanned the names of the ships on her HUD, Coreena's heart did a little jump when a red dot named _Predator_ blinked at her. She had been right, Chesfer _knew_ where they were and when they would be most vulnerable. In the moment she starred at the ship she knew something was wrong. She couldn't explain it, she just _knew_ it. But she also knew that the prisoners they had been looking for all the time most likely were on he ship. In this instance she made a decision. "This is Gray Leader to all personnel: Target the _Predator_ but don't destroy it. I repeat…" 

"What the hell do you think you are doing?", suddenly Zifra's voice over her comm. This was just what she needed now. She chose to ignore it. "It is most likely that there is Alliance personnel aboard this ship. We want them back alive. All squadron and station leaders acknowledge." Nobody answered. She should have known. Then, suddenly: "Krayt Leader to Gray Leader. Acknowledged." 

"Silver Cat Leader acknowledged."

"Control Leader acknowledged."

"Weapons Leader acknowledged."

"This is _mutiny_! I will…"

And in this moment it happened. Just for one second she had too much to overview, too much… "_Damn!_ Gray Leader to Two. My stabilizer's hit and…" Another hit. Her R2 warbled something and she had the feeling that it sounded just a little tad frantic. This was not a problem, not in the least, this was not… Suddenly her ship rocked and she knew this had nothing to with the laser bolts that were flying around. This was a tractor beam. "Gray Leader to Two. I really got a problem here…" 

"Leader, this is Two, don't tell me they got you on the hook." She looked around her and tried not to panic. She had never panicked and she would not do it know. "I'm afraid I have to tell you otherwise. My HUD is malfunctioning. Assign two of the fighters that are nearest to me to find out the tractor beam source and let them surgically destroy it. Hurry up! Oh and… you are my eyes and ears now, you know." She saw the _Predator_ coming towards her and after a few seconds it filled her view port completely. In this moment she felt totally helpless and strangely enough it vexed her to no end instead of making her panic. She saw two fighters sweep by and recognized them as Gray Seven and Twelve. Coreena heaved a deep sigh. Saron was good with surgical strikes and even if she didn't admit it, she worked perfectly together with Blenwell. The two fighters were swooping frantically before her but nothing changed. She still was being drawn towards the ship and she felt like the seconds were stretching. And then she something inside her snapped and she knew she wasn't going to make it. She would be drawn into the ship's hangar and there was nothing she or anyone else could do about it. Something inside her told her that this maybe was the last chance to tell Marcus how she felt about him but she tried to ignore it. He had too much on his mind already and she didn't want to… "Leader, Two. Hold on. We still got some tricks up our sleeves…" But it was too late. Before her the _Predator_'s hangar bay opened and cold white light greeted her. She squeezed her eyes shut tight. This was the end. Ultimately. Strangely she didn't feel much fear, she just felt regret that she hadn't ceased the opportunity when she had had it and told Marcus everything or that she didn't congratulate Randy and hadn't joined his birthday party… Something behind her exploded and through the haze she was in she heard someone say "Two, this is Three. Four is gone. Repeat, Four is gone…" _Randy._, she thought and she just couldn't bring herself to understand that. He had been so young, had such a promising future… And then all of a sudden she was blind, deaf and mute. The hangar bay had completely swallowed her. _This is the end._, she thought and after some moments of complete numbness a huge wave of fear swallowed all her remaining thoughts and feelings.

A/N: Well, that's it for now. I hope you enjoyed the cookies. And I hope my writer's block losens up a little since now it's really going to be tough for all of them ;) 


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**Chapter Eighteen**

For a moment Marcus' mind went blank. As if he had been an astromech with a memory wipe. And if Tom Rannan hadn't wiped the eyeball behind him this moment would have been his last. 

The explosion behind him somehow shook him out of his reverie and forced him to concentrate on the tasks at hand. Which, basically, just meant surviving this chaos. Above, below, right and left of him and generally _every_where fighters were zooming past him, coming frontally… Luckily for him his instincts took over and if he was asked later how he had survived this living nightmare he couldn't answer. He just could remember one thing: He had to protect the _Predator_. She was somewhere in there and he just somehow knew that she was alive. 

It was strange, she thought. Here she was, inside the rancor's den, at the brink of death or – what might even be worse – imprisonment aboard the _Predator_. And still she felt an unnatural calm after the wave of fear that had engulfed her when she had been drawn into the belly of the ship. It was as if she wasn't in her body anymore, as if she was watching everything from a position out of her ship even. She could see them all, the storm troopers in their terrifying white garments, the fleet officers in their gray and black uniforms, ordering the crewmen and troopers around… With a thud her X-Wing made contact with the hull plates and she could hear someone say: "Open the hatch. Surrender unconditionally." And she did it, with movements that seemed like that of a droid. She half-expected someone to shoot at her right in the moment her hatch had risen wide enough but nothing like that happened. The storm troopers were only holding up their guns, aiming at her as was the gray-clad officer – a captain – who shouted up to her: "Hands up and out of the X-Wing, rebel scum!" 

Slowly she got up in her seat, always mindful to let her hands be seen. With equally slow movements she turned around and jumped out of her canopy. In the moment she made contact with the hull she almost felt the laser beams penetrating her. But nothing happened. The whole scene seemed surreal to her. But only until two storm troopers charged up to her and took her by her arms, while a third one searched her and stripped her off her weapons and the remaining three had their rifles trained on her. The captain came up to her, his weapon now at his side. Faster than she could foresee it he slapped her. Hard. In an instant she felt warm blood slowly dribbling down the side of her mouth. And then, with a grin as malicious as anyone could muster, the officer said: "Welcome aboard the _Predator_." 

In that moment something inside her snapped. All the pent-up anger together with the overwhelming fear that had always been there underneath the unnatural calm and the desperation that suddenly engulfed her broke free. Before she knew what happened the officer in front of her started to choke as much as the six troopers surrounding her. Her mind went blank and only anger, fear, hate and desperation remained. She felt it erupt from her body and drain it out of her. And suddenly she collapsed into oblivion.

"Stop attack… have… prisoner… withdrawal…" Reslin's mouth twitched. She pushed the button on her communicator just a little bit to adjust it to the frequency she had just found. Quickly checking her HUD she found out that she had found an Imperial frequency that was labeled "unused". The Mon Calamarian blinked in mild surprise. Obviously Windrunner's cracking program worked better than everyone of them – including its writer – had thought. 

Just as she was about to fine-tune her communicator just a tad more her R2-unit screeched and dodged the eyeball that had been coming her way with full force. As suddenly there was only static hissing on the frequency she had been listening to she cursed in her native language. Hitting keys on her HUD she frantically tried to find again the position she had been in seconds ago. Her gut feeling told her that this was important. She dared not switch her frequency to inform her wing mate what she was about. 

Carefully she steered her ship towards the position her HUD showed her. Suddenly the hissing was gone and a well-known voice sounded over her cockpit. Immediately she hit her recording button and listened. "This… Zifra… acknowledged. Will… withdraw. Zifra out." The answering voice said: "Chesfer acknowledged. Prisoner aboard. Withdrawing our forces." Her eyes widened. Something inside her said that she now better should switch back to her wing pair's frequency. She hit the button and suddenly her cockpit was filled with Stevas frantic voice: "…tried to call you. What was that? I thought…"

"I made an interesting discovery. I just heard…" A blinking light indicated that their commander was trying to call her. She switched her frequency. "Biniir Leader to squadron: Abort your recent actions and return to the hangar. I repeat: Return to the hangar." She heard someone argue and Rannan silencing him. The tone he used made it clear that this time he wanted them to follow his orders explicitly, even if he wasn't agreeing with them himself. 

Suddenly cheering erupted over the comm and she wondered what happened. Then Reslin saw the Imperial forces withdraw themselves. Her eyes widened in shock. So the conversation she had been listening to had been real. She shook her head. Until now something inside had simply denied that this was what the rational part of her mind thought it was. They had a traitor aboard. And it was their own captain.

Rannan was just about to leave the hangar when he heard Reslin's voice calling him. "Commander… Sir!" He turned. "How many times do I have to tell you lot that I don't want to be called like that?" In an instant he regretted having sounded so harsh but something about this whole battle and their strange sudden victory vexed him. And it vexed him even more that he couldn't quite put a finger on what it was that made him so agitated. He looked at the Mon Cal. Outwardly she seemed her normal calm self but he knew his people. He had frightened her off with his reaction, and he could hear it in her voice when she opened her mouth and said: "I… I'm sorry…", but he stalled her with upholding his hand. "Now, no need to apologize. Just tell me what you wanted to say when you called." Her barbs twitched. "Not… not here. I… we… just listen to that. Somewhere you can't be listened to, okay?" And with that she brushed past him. Startled he looked at his hand and found a little data card in it. 

"What was that about?" He almost jumped when he heard Marlin's voice from his left. He briefly considered lying to her but finally just said: "Sometimes I wonder who our people _really_ are." He then took a short look a their surroundings and said: "Come on, I need you to have a look at something." She raised and eyebrow: "Aren't we going to celebrate, just like the other pilots?" Rannan just smirked. "I don't see anything to celebrate. And if you're true, you don't see something either." Instead of answering she heaved a sigh and fell in step beside him. When he was in a mood like that it was better not to argue with him, even for her.

Only when they were finally inside his quarters he spoke up again. "Look what I just got from our Mon Cal.", he said and showed Marlin the data card. She took it out if his hand and examined it. "It's a recording card. Whatever did she want you to do with it?" He took it back and stuck it into the nearest data pad. "Listen to it. I just hope Byo was thorough with his bug sweep." With that he hit the "play"-button on his data pad and instantly the brief conversation Reslin had recorded emanated from it. Then, silence.

Only after a moment of complete shock Marlin finally said: "Tell me I just had a hallucination." 

"If there's any little chance that we could have the same hallucination with exactly the same contents then I would." Smoothing a hand over her curls Marlin started to say something but only got out: "Sithspit." Rannan threw the data pad on the upper bunk. "You name it." For another second or two both were silent. Then Marlin said: "Ran… what are we gonna do about this?" He felt uneasy. This was one of the few occasions in his life where he absolutely had _no_ clue at what to do. "I…", he started but before he could finish his sentence she said: "Me neither, Ran. And you what that means." Rannan rubbed his neck. "Yeah. Trouble. _Big_ trouble. _Really_ big trouble." 

Suddenly feeling exhausted he sat down on the lower bunk and rubbed his hands over his eyes. In an instant two small hands were working his neck and shoulders to ease out all the knots and tensions. "You know…", Marlin's voice said and continued while her hands went on massaging his neck and shoulders, "there're a lot of questions now. I won't question Reslin's loyalty and honesty but how de we know if this isn't something forged? You know, a decoy, a fraud, something set up to make us look away from something else." He simply nodded, and she went on. "Then: Who was that prisoner they were talking about? Was anyone captured?" He nodded again. "Yeah. Mallan." For a second her hands hold still. "What?" 

"Was quite unspectacular. I only noticed it because her XO tried to get it through to Control over the open frequency." Her hands moved a little lower now. ""When was that?" He tentatively sat up again. "Like… 10 minutes before the Imps' withdrawal. You think…?" She nodded. He couldn't see it, because she was sitting in his back but he knew her gestures inside out. "So we've got one question answered. Which only leads to a new question: Why _her_? And what's so important about her that they turn tail after they got her instead of finishing us? And what is Zifra's role in all of this? How many people are involved in this?" She stopped shortly, then said: "What about her XO? The seemed to have a quite strange relationship to me. Maybe we should start with him." A smile lit up Rannan's face which turned into one of his trademark grins. "What would I do without you, Lin?" She stopped massaging his back and crawled to sit beside him. "Go to sleep with a stiff neck and without any clue how to command your squadron. Good night, Ran." And with that she stood up and stepped out of his quarters after giving him a quick wink. He smiled again and just said: "I'm just damn lucky you don't know how much of that is true, Lin."

It was way past his relax time but he didn't care. Didn't care he missed the debriefing an hour ago. Didn't care he hadn't ready any speech he could give his pilots at the assembly that was due in two hours. Didn't care about whether anyone saw him standing there in the pilot's lounge, staring into the black void that space had become for him. To be precise, Marcus didn't care about _anything_ at the moment. The Emperor could have been dancing right there before his eyes and he couldn't have cared less. 

He looked at the half empty glass of cheep brandy in his hand. No, he did not even care about being drunk or not. The void in his heart which mirrored the blackness outside the transparisteel window just swallowed everything. There was only one thought in his mind: _Why?_ He looked out of the window again. Debris from the battle passed by the window and the thought if that maybe had been a part of Randy's ship fleetingly crossed his mind. Marcus closed his eyes. How came that it was stirring up absolutely _nothing_? Had… _her_ fate covered up his mind so completely that he was blind to any other feeling? How could have that happened? How could he let himself get so much out of control? How could he have…?

In a bout of sudden pent up rage, frustration and depression he turned and threw his glass into the nearest wall with every strength he could muster. But not even the crystal clear and crisp sound of bursting glass helped against all the feelings that were suddenly building up inside him. Instead of quelling something it only opened the gates that had held the gurgling, overpowering flood of emotions at bay. Tears welled up in his eyes but before they were spilled he shut them tight and turned back to the window, crouching down in one of the chairs that were standing before it. Having curled his hands into fists he leaned his head on them. 

"You know, you could be charged for destroying valuable war material for that." He looked up and turned into the direction the voice had come from. Standing beside the pool of brandy with shards of glass in it was Tom Rannan, someone Marcus was least expecting. "Don't you have a victory celebration to attend to?", he asked with a bitterness in his voice that even shocked himself a bit. Rannan shook his head and came nearer, taking the seat opposite to Marcus and sitting down. He put his feet up on the table that was standing between the two and leaned back in his chair. Finally he said: "Is there a victory to celebrate?" 

Marcus laughed a bitter, humorless laugh and retorted: "I don't even care." Rannan didn't answer, just turned his head and looked out of the window. Then, after some minutes of silence he suddenly said: "She wouldn't want to you to wallow in self-pity." The younger man looked up. "I… beg your pardon?" Everything in the tone of his voice and his demeanor told Rannan he was likely to be walking through a minefield but he didn't care. He needed to find out where Lochlin's loyalties laid and how he was involved in this whole traitor business. "Mallan. She wouldn't want her 2IC to sit in the deserted pilots lounge and drown in self-pity. She would want you to act as it was your duty. She would want…" 

"Just what do _you_ know _Coreena_ would want _anyone_ to do?" The malice and scorn in Lochlin's voice startled Rannan a bit. Obviously Marlin's theory that there was more between the two leading officers of Grey Squadron did have some truth in it. "I've flown with her for two whole years. Trust me, I got to know her."

"You _bullied_ her.", Lochlin started, just matter-of-factly. Rannan tried to answer just in the same even tone: "Maybe. But I still got to know her. And what she wants most from fellow pilots is that they follow their duty. Whatever other problems they have, for her always duty comes first. She'd be disappointed in you." Inwardly Rannan cursed himself. He was about to get carried away. This was about investigating Lochlin's loyalties and not about giving the man advise on how to carry on after losing his… whatever Mallan had been. 

Lochlin's gaze swept over him and he was surprised to see so much conflicting emotions in the man's eyes. When he finally spoke he couldn't quite find the balance between sounding professional and agitated. "She's been abducted by a sadistic specialist in torture who seems to have taken a special delight in taking female prisoners. How would _you_ feel if it was your _XO_ that would have been taken?" He remembered Marlin giving him the information they were able to gather about their Imperial opponent and involuntarily shuddered at the thought of her being taken as a POW by the man. "Right, I thought so.", came the cool reply. And then Lochlin said something which really surprised Rannan. "And then imagine that you know she's been taken because of the fault of someone of your own people. Someone who gave away the ship's position. Someone who betrayed us all. Now, how would you feel?" In an instant Rannan had his feet on the floor again and was leaning towards Lochlin, saying in a hushed voice: "I know just one thing. I sure as hell wouldn't run around the ship and yell my ideas at everyone who might come the way." Then he made a gut decision and gave Lochlin Reslin's data card when he stood up to leave and said: "Maybe you're interested in this." And with that he left the slightly confused looking younger man alone in the pilots lounge again.  

A/N: Look, Sir, another chapter! Ahem, what I wanted to say was: I don't believe it! At least for some hours my writer's block has broken! Anyway, how was that? There's more to come, I daresay. Just stay with me  ^_~


	20. Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen 

"…Chesfer acknowledged. Prisoner aboard. Withdrawing our forces."

The last sounds of the recording faded away, and Marcus starred blankly at the opposite wall. As if in trance his finger automatically pushed the "play"-button again and the voices sounded through his quarters again. When Zifra's voice was heard for the first time his eyes twitched only ever so slightly. Again the sounds faded out. This time, however, he just continued starring at the wall. Then suddenly his right foot lashed out and kicked his desktop chair, hard. But not even the loud crashing sound the chair made when it connected with the floor made him feel any better.

The perfect stillness in his quarters was suddenly interrupted by the shrill ringing of his comm. Without looking he tapped the button and said with a kind of detached voice: "Yes?"

"Marcus?" It was Kenzy's voice. He said nothing, just starred. "Marcus?" This time she asked a bit sharper. He cleared his throat. "Yes, what is it?"

"Marcus, I don't know if you remember but your people have been waiting for you for like half an hour now. Don't you think that's a bit inappropriate for a commanding officer?" He closed his eyes. Technically, she was damn right. It was just that… to be honest he didn't know what it was. Sighing he said: "Alright. I'm coming. Where are you?"

"At the briefing room, just as ordered." His gaze fell on the data pad with the recording data card in it. Just as Rannan had done it, he decided out of his gut. "Make that some place where we can't be listened to easily. And where nobody would assume a squadron meeting would take place." Silence on the other hand, then: "Alright… we're moving to the work out room. Kenzy out." He put his comm off, took the data card and left his quarters. On the way to the work out room it dawned on him that maybe this was not one of his brightest ideas. What if Zifra had bugged their quarters? Or set tracking devices on their comms? And how many people were involved in this? He tried to look around for something suspicious, some one following him but could detect nothing.

When he had finally reached the work out room the strange dark swirl of emotions inside of him had been replaced by a grim determination. He entered the room and saw his people sitting there. Most of them looked fatigued. Kara Kar'Esta was absent, as much as her roommate and sister Deraani. He didn't comment on it, though he knew he would have to talk to both of them later.

Everyone of them was looking expectantly at him when he finally cleared his throat. He took a deep breath and tried to speak. On his third attempt he finally managed to say: "People… this was one hell of a battle." Not much reaction. "We lost our commanding officer. And we lost a very good comrade, a friend… both casualties are heavy. But… but this is not the worst. Some hours ago Tom Rannan gave me something. Maybe… it's best if you just listen." He hit the "play"-button on his data pad and again the voices were speaking. He tried to ignore them, tried to hold the emotions in him that were welling up again at bay by watching the reactions of his fellow pilots. Most of them showed signs of disbelief and anger.

The recording finally stopped. Silence reigned the room until Marcus cleared his throat and wanted to say something but Marten beat him to it. "Must have been one heck of a piece of work for Rannan's lot to build up such a good fraud." Marcus swallowed. "He and his people may be a bit… unconventional but… I trust them. Coree… Captain Mallan did it although she had personal difficulties with Rannan, and I talked to his XO. There's no indication that they have any reasons to work against us. Any different opinions?" He looked around. Nobody spoke up so he continued. "Now is the question… what do we do about this?" After a moment of silence Kenzy spoke up. "We should be careful. Very, very careful. Remember that last meeting we had with the Cap? Where all of us could report suspicious activities around our fighters? We thought we had been overreacting but when even Zifra is involved in this how many more people are? I think first thing we have to do is meet up with Rannan and his XO and try to find a strategy to discover the traitors among the ship's crew." Several pilots nodded. Marcus closed his eyes for a moment. Then he said: "Right. Since it seems I'm the officer with the highest length of service I'll act as a commanding officer as long as there's no different order. Any objections?" Nobody raised a hand. "Good. I'll appoint Kenzy as my XO." She nodded. "Your first assignment is to contact Rannan and talk to him about what you suggested here. Try to bring him to meet us as soon as possible. The rest of you… keep your eyes open, not only when you're on duty but your whole waking time. But for now… get some sleep. All of you. That's an order. We'll meet again in 12 hours. Here. Dismissed."

When nothing more came from him, the people slowly stood up and left the room until only he and Kenzy were left. Just as he was about to turn and leave also she came up to him and just said: " And… how are you feeling?" He just gave her a weary look and said: "Why'd you want to know?" She ran a hand over her face. "Look… I know we've never been exactly best friends but… everybody can see that you're just one step from going over the edge, and if you're a commanding officer that's just the one thing you can't afford. Is… is there…?"

"Kenzy… _Saron_… I lost two good people today. And I lost them because of a traitor. The only things I want at the moment are revenge and to get at least one person back. The only thing that is keeping me sane at the moment is the knowledge that she is out there. And that is all you will hear from me about this." With that he finally turned and made his way out of the room. He didn't hear Saron say: "Dammit, Lochlin, they were _my_ comrades, too."

When she woke up Coreena thought she was dead. Dead and in hell. Every bone in her body ached and seemed to be broken. Her skin was feeling like it would burn away at every moment and her head seemed like it would burst. But then she tried to take a deep breath and her lungs felt like fire.

Obviously she still wasn't dead. Somewhere inside she regretted that, and even more so when she opened her eyes. Yellow-orange light was flooding the cell which was not bigger than four quadrate meters. There was no bunk, nothing for personal hygiene and just a door in the opposite wall.

She was a bit surprised. Somewhere deep inside she actually felt _relief_ at being still alive. After all she had heard and read she would be facing a living nightmare. _Soon you'll be begging to die._, a voice whispered, and she snapped around. Of course nobody was there but she could have sworn she'd really heard it. With some effort she managed to sit up and draw her knees to her chest. She slung her arms around them and rested her head on them. A kind of deep dark desperation settled in her stomach. How in the whole universe should she survive this?

"I want to see the prisoner." Lord Vader's shiny black mask lenses starred at him, and Chesfer felt as if they looked right into his mind. But strangely he managed to stay calm when he answered: "I am sorry, my Lord, but this will not be possible. Bio-security protocols demand that she be in quarantine for at least another ten standard hours." It was not a complete lie but somehow Chesfer had the feeling that if Vader had the possibility to have a look at the prisoner he would take the woman to Imperial Center. Which was not an option since Chesfer had some issues of his own to settle with the woman pilot. And so he had to stretch the demanded quarantine time a little longer than usual.

Vader's breathing filled the room until it seemed unbearably loud. Just in the same moment as Chesfer was at least _considering_ Vader's request, the Dark Lord spoke up again. "You are not entirely truthful, Admiral. I detest lying subordinates. But as I know, you are a capable interrogation specialist. In two hours I will return to Imperial Center where I will bring this case before the Emperor. In two standard days you will receive coordinates for another rendezvous point. Make sure to be there. And keep the prisoner alive so she can be handed over to me. In the mean time I will leave her to your care. I am sure you know what is expected of you." With that the Dark Lord turned without waiting for an answer and marched out of the room.

In the moment Vader was out of his door Chesfer felt as if a whole mountain was taken off his chest.


	21. Chapter Twenty

**Chapter Twenty**

_**Liberty**_**, work-out room**

If it was possible, Lochlin looked even more fatigued than the last time Rannan had seen him. The boy, _man_, Rannan corrected himself, had the look of someone who had worked far too much under too much emotional strain on him. They – together with both their XOs – were sitting on the mats of the work out room and trying to set up a strategy to uncover the traitor network aboard the _Liberty_.

"But isn't it most important to know who is involved in this in our nearest vicinity?", Lin tossed into the round. Lochlin's XO – a rather mean and hardened looking woman named Saron Kenzy – shook her head and said: "No. Even if we can expose a member of our maintenance crews or a deck officer as a traitor, the people behind this will remain hidden. And they will become more cautious and thus even more difficult to expose. So we have to find _them_ as fast as possible. We have this record of Zifra. We have to _use_ it."

"And what do we do? Mutiny? Who will be the new captain? Quite frankly, I don't trust _anyone_ in the command crew of this ship anymore. We'd need someone from outside. And I don't see any way to realize such a scheme. I bet all our communication is being monitored, so there's absolutely _no_ way for us to get in touch with any other Alliance forces. Even if we can get this mutiny started it will lead us only into complete chaos and a catastrophe." Lochlin gave a little huff and everyone stared at him. It was the longest statement he had made since the battle, and it had come out in a kind of rush no one would have expected from him.

Rannan smirked because one of the statements the Lieutenant had made had triggered an idea in him. He cleared his throat and said tentatively: "Well… as for our communication… I have a brilliant Bothan hacker in my squadron who needs something to work on because he's become quite edgy. And for the captain from outside… well… I have someone in my mind who could useful." Lin eyed him suspiciously. "Ran, you're not talking about…"

"Nomo Morgan? Oh yes, I am. She may be a an ambitious and hard-headed bitch but she's a _loyal and clever_ ambitious and hard-headed bitch. And her operating territory is as near to us as possible. We should try it." His XO gave him a look that said "You're nuts." because she knew damn well that he and Nomo Morgan were a pair of dynamite and a real danger to the sometimes very sensitive relationship between Starfighter Command and the fleet. He'd have to talk to her later in private. For now he threw a look into the round and finally Lochlin ragged his hair, gave a tired nod of approval and said: "Alright… give me everything you have about this Captain Morgan and tell your hacker to start working on that communication monitoring thing. We'll meet again in two days. I think it would be best if each of us uses this time to inform their squadrons. Other than that we need to keep absolutely quite about all of this. And… well… I think that's it." With that he got up, nodded towards Kenzy and left the room with her in tow.

Rannan was amazed at how fast the kid – no, the _man_, he corrected himself again – had learned to command and how little attention he paid to the fact that actually Rannan was outranking him. _But then again… he's grown desperate and fatigued. He most probably doesn't care about what he's doing anymore._, Rannan thought to himself.

A shove to his shoulder called his attention to his XO who was grinning at him mischievously. "Growing old, are we, Commander?" He grinned back. "I'll show you what it means to insult your commanding officer like that!" And with that he flung himself towards her. It was her giggling like a school girl he remembered most of that day, even long after it was gone.

* * *

**_Predator_, interrogation room**

"Well, what do we have here?"

Slowly she lifted her head up and looked into the direction the voice had come from. Right in front of her stood a bald Imperial officer wearing a sneer on his face. She felt her wrists and ankles bound to a kind of table which stood upright. The officer – an Admiral, the rank insignia told her – reached towards her and cupped her chin roughly with his right hand. "I asked you a question. And I demand an answer. _Now_!" With that he slapped her right cheek so hard that her head flew to the side. She felt warm blood trickle down from the corner of her mouth but still kept quiet. It earned her another slap, this time on her left cheek. "Who do you think you are? _Answer me_!"

Coreena only slightly lifted her head this time. The officer now had a nasty look on his face. But she didn't care. There just wasn't any energy left for her to care about anything. Her body was still aching, and desperation had taken over her mind. It had silenced her. The only thing that would come to her mind was "Leave me alone.", but she didn't even haven the energy to tell the officer.

And just as she had expected it, another slap hit her face, jerking her head to the side so hard it hit the table she was strapped to. She didn't even flinch at the pain shooting through her skull as her cheekbone connected with the metal. Suddenly a faint sound caught her attention. Slowly she looked up and saw herself faced with a black shining sphere hovering about half a meter centimeters before her. _A torture droid._, shot through her head. She had seen pictures of it but couldn't quite bring herself to believe that the Empire was capable of actually using those things. Before anything more came to her, she felt a slight prick in her right arm. The droid had put a syringe into the vein. Mildly she wondered what this was about. Then she saw the venomous smirk on the face of the officer and suddenly felt excruciating pain as he pinched her slightly on the arm. "Don't you think it's about time we start using less violence, dear?", was the last thing she heard before she began screaming.

* * *

**_Liberty_, Flt.Of. Blenwell's quarters**

"You. In the work-out room. Now."

A bewildered look crossed his features as Marten stared at the woman standing in his doorway and glaring impatiently at him. "What the…" But he was cut short by her saying: "I bet you need a good sparing, too. So come on, let's go." He still hadn't quite gotten to what she was telling him. "Lieutenant…" A slight huff escaped her throat. "Do I have to make it an order, Flight Officer?" The soft impatient padding of her foot was added to the slightly annoyed appearance of Lieutenant Kenzy. He tried a last time to say something and was rewarded only with the quirking of her right eyebrow. "All right, I'll just get my stuff."

Trying to understand what in the Jedi's name had brought her to his doorstep he rummaged around in his locker. After some minutes the time where it wasn't too obvious he was just stalling was up, and he turned back to Kenzy. "Well, let's start with the warm-up.", he said and began to jog in the work-out room's direction. He was surprised to find her joining him without any remark or even the rolling of her eyes.

When the had reached the work-out room, they began their stretching. It was the part of their sparring sessions he liked best. Seeing her in all her physical glory – refined muscles, lithe body, all of that. She was a warrior, and a beautiful one at that.

Making a face he shook his head. Thoughts like this were not his. And most of all not when they were referring to Lieutenant Kenzy. They didn't include words like beautiful, glory, _like_. Well, usually. He grunted under his breath. At some point this had changed. He couldn't quite put his finger on it but it must have started after their first work-out session. Some time after that he found himself not only checking her out but also liking what he saw. And he found himself being attracted to her not only physically. He began to notice things about her he's never seen before like her kind of twisted sense of humor, her unconditional devotion to their cause, her… _Will you just stop it?_ Marten grunted again. Right. He was not supposed to think about her that way. He was a big bad macho, and she was an overcompensating and over-ambitious pain in the neck.

On the other side of the room Saron stretched as well. And observed Blenwell from the corner of her eye. Well, okay, she didn't observe, she did a downright check-out. Smirking slightly she had to admit that she liked what she saw. Broad shoulders, sculpted torso, nicely formed biceps… _All right, stop drooling now, will you?_ Turning away from him, she smirked again. Since when was Marten Blenwell, pain in the ass extraordinaire, the hunk of the month?

Okay, so he _was_ physically appealing. But she found it disturbing that being attracted to him didn't just confine to his outward appearance. There was something about him… She couldn't quite put a finger on it, but she found herself feeling more and more oddly comfortable around him. At some point their bantering had stopped being all grim and dead-serious and changed into something a bit more playful. It appeared more like a sport now, something they both enjoyed as a way to keep their minds a wits sharp enough, to somehow relieve them of the boredom of everyday routine and the horror of the recent events… Sithspit, what was she thinking?

Bantering with Blenwell was _never_ "playful" or "a sport" or something to "enjoy", it was just a nuisance, bothering her to no end, making her invest valuable energy in fruitless attempts to make him see his utter stupidity.

Unfortunately she had to admit that Marten Blenwell was anything but stupid. If he didn't hide behind the layer of bored macho he usually wore he could be quite entertaining and a surprisingly intelligent tactician. He…"Do you want to stretch or to fight, Lieutenant?" She blinked and turned at him, trying to look at least fairly irritated at his quip but chose to give him only the raising of one eyebrow and taking her usual fighting stance as an answer. He grinned and said: "Just what I thought." And then the usual dance of exchanged blows and hits started just like always.

Finally she felt the tension that had been created by the hatred and desperation created by Chesfer and the anger at Lochlin and her own utter confusion and helplessness about the whole situation and had been continuously building up since the Cap had been taken melt away as she concentrated her energy on deflecting the blows, dodging his moves and adding her own share of aggressiveness to the fight. And then suddenly they were both thrown to the floor by the combination of both their moves and locked in an embrace on the mats with Marten lying on top of her and holding her wrists on both sides of her head. Neither of them said a word. Only their exasperated panting echoed through the room but even that was lost to both of them as they found themselves starring at each other.

If someone had asked him later who it was that started kissing the other he wouldn't have been able to answer since he couldn't even remember. He just knew that suddenly they weren't fighting anymore but kissing each other madly and hard, all the while roaming the other's body with their hands and almost ripping apart their clothes. And he wasn't sure if he could have stopped himself even if he had wanted to. Neither was she.

When it was all over both were being completely still for just a moment and just starring at each other again. And just for the fraction of a second Marten saw something in her eyes he had never seen before – a strange mixture of fear, regret, hurt, pain and a strange and almost unbearably great sadness. It was over almost before he could quite put a name on it when she blinked and wordlessly disentangled herself from him, stood up and gathered her clothes as if she's just been in the shower. When she was done with dressing again she turned around and glanced briefly at him and he felt slightly uncomfortable and…vulnerable. Which turned into sheer devastation – if only for a second – when she said: "No need to apologize or fuss over it. After all, it was just sex." And with that she finally left him alone, sitting on the floor, feeling completely dumbfounded and confused and – he hated to admit that – heart-broken.

* * *

**A/N:** I truly and deeply apologized for the _huge_ delay in updating but I have been suffering a major, major, _major_ case of writers block which just loosened up yesterday. I just hope I can keep on updating a bit more frequently now. 


	22. Chapter Twenty One

** Chapter Twenty-One**

**_Predator_, sick-bay**

"You must be the new one."

The voice came to her, sounding as if being filtered through a thick layer of cotton and rousing her from a strange land between sleeping and being awake. But she kept her eyes closed on purpose, not having enough strength to even just move her lids. Then suddenly the left lid was forced open and there was white light piercing into her left eye, making her jerk her head to the side as much as her weakened state allowed.

"All right, there's a normal reaction in your left pupil, so you got no head trauma. Which is good, really. Now let's see how the other…" As the fingers which pried her left eye open tried to do the same with her right, Coreena squeezed it shut tight, no matter how much the effort needed for that made her head ache. "C'mon, I just need a short look…" The voice was light, female, soft – and still stern enough to sound commanding. And almost persuading.

"The sooner you let me open this lid, the sooner this will be over. Isn't that a nice perspective?" More scurrying around of the fingers, this time on the back of her head. "Amazing. They managed to break basically everything in your body apart from your skull. You are just one lucky bastard I got some bone-knitter-stuff and some bacta and a _lot_ of those heavy painkillers left. Well, that and a lot of time on my hands." The talking just wouldn't cease and caused her even more headache. More and more, this felt like the all-times universe's worst hangover _ever_.

She groaned. "Oh, it talks.", came the sarcastic reply. Over the past minutes Coreena had become gradually aware of her surroundings. The antiseptic smell, the light penetrating the cover of her lids and the fact that she wasn't bound to the table she was lying on told her that she wasn't in the interrogation chamber anymore. But where… "Just open your eyes, and you'll know where you are. Come on, try it. I won't even try to look up that pupil you don't want me to see just now." The voice sounded a bit more distant now. After some more seconds of hesitating Coreena cracked open her eyes just so the light wouldn't hurt too much. After the first initial new wave of headache she slowly opened them fully.

The almost immaculate whiteness of the place combined with the other sensations told her she was in a kind of sick bay. Or at least something that had been made to _look_ like a sick bay. "You're wondering where you are and if I'm the good-interrogator part of the "good-interrogator-bad-interrogator" game, aren't you?" Slowly Coreena turned her head into the direction where the voice was coming from. Beside the table she as lying on stood a woman in her early thirties with blond hair at approximately ears' length and her arms folded before her chest who was looking down on her with a mild interest. The woman sighed. "Not very talkative, are we?" Coreena just squinted and decided to stay silent. After all, this could easily be one big illusion created by some strange super-drug made to let her guard down and talk. The woman rose an eyebrow at Coreena's constant refusal to talk and chose to continue with whatever she had done before.

Unfortunately this included touching Coreena. At the sight of someone approaching her and laying a finger on her something inside her snapped and suddenly the doctor flew several meters through the room, crashing against the other side of the room. For a moment no one said anything. Instead the two women stared at each other – the doctor a kind of dumbfounded, the prisoner with a look of pure horror on her marred features. The silence was only broken when Coreena's eyes suddenly closed and she faded again.

**

* * *

**

**Sick-bay, one hour later**

Coreena groaned. Again. And again the same woman's voice from before answered her. "So you finally decided to come around, huh? Well, took you long enough…" Coreena cracked her eyes open. Surprisingly she wasn't hit with the same fierce headaches as from before. She tried to sit up, and noticed slightly dumbfounded that no one pushed her down again. When she had finally managed to sit in an upright position, she squinted at the woman across from her. She wanted to say something but only got a croaking sound out. "Try it with some fluids.", the blonde woman said and handed her a cup with something that appeared to be water in it. She eyes it suspiciously. "You can drink it. Chesfer'd have my head on a silver platter if I dared to break his new favorite toy." Coreena tried to withstand the temptation but the rasping feeling in her throat finally overpowered her and she gulped down the water hastily.

Then she tried to speak again, and found herself surprised at actually being able to do it. "Who are you?", she asked, sounding slightly suspicious. The woman just shrugged and said: "My name is… well, never mind my name. I'm just your friendly sew-you-together-so-they-can-torture-you-again-doctor on this lovely cruise straight into hell. Or whatever you chose to call this place where eternal torture and pain will envelope you." Coreena just knitted her brows together in a frown. "What the… where am I?" Again, the woman – the doctor, Coreena corrected herself – answered: "I'm not really allowed to tell you but you are in no shape to do something even remotely dangerous so I guess I don't have to care. You are on the _Predator_, Admiral Chesfer's flag ship. And before you ask more: You are not the only prisoner. There's seven more of you here. But I haven't treated them for a while now. Only one who is being shipped in here is you. Seems someone has developed quite an interest in you." The last sentence was accentuated with a scowl from the doctor, which encouraged Coreena to push her luck a little. "Is there… did you… treat a female Rodian?" The doctor quirked an eyebrow. "Yes, I did. You know her?" Instead of giving away too much information, Coreena shrugged and said "Could be."

After a kind of uncomfortable silence, the doctor finally said: "Well… as much as I'd like to continue this terribly interesting conversation, I have to carry out my obligations and call my superiors to tell them I've patched you up sufficiently." With that the woman turned to her comm, and Coreena's stomach pit was filled with immeasurable dread.

**

* * *

**

**Fighter carrier _Starfield_, bridge**

"Ma'am, incoming transmission."

Captain Nomo Morgan quirked an eyebrow. "Well, ensign, put it through.", she answered the bridge crew member who had called her. "Well, Ma'am…" She sighed. "What is it, Ganner?" The ensign cleared her throat. "It's encoded. And I really can't make out the sender's identity. Seems really strange." With a frown on her face Morgan got up from her command chair and walked over to Ensign Ganner's console to lean over the shoulder of the young woman and have a look at the transmission herself. From the corner of her eyes she could see the uncomfortable squirming of the ensign but tried to ignore it. Ganner was a competent communication officer, she just needed to get rid of this shyness of senior officers all these kids coming fresh from Imperial worlds or Imperial Academies had.

Scanning quickly through the stats of the transmission Morgan frowned slightly. This was indeed something strange. She hadn't seen this kind of data strings since… Rannan's lot had left her ship for good. Or so she had thought.

A smirk tugged at the right corner of her mouth as she straightened up again and addressed Ganner: "Transfer that message to my account, please." To the rest of the bridge crew she called out: "I'll be at my private office for the next half an hour. Only disturb me if it's really important. And with that I mean nothing smaller than at least three VSDs. D'Jan, you have the bridge." Nodding toward her 2IC, she left the bridge for her private office. This would turn out to be an interesting day, at last.

**_

* * *

_**

**_Liberty_, work-out room**

"So, how do you know Morgan got your message?", Marcus asked, throwing Rannan a skeptical look. "Trust me, she got it.", was the only thing Rannan answered which made Marcus frown even more. "How can you be so sure?" Rannan sighed. "Look, just trust me on this one. She got it all right. And stop making a fuss about other people's problems. You got enough on your own." Marcus huffed. How dare this smug, self-righteous bastard… "No, I don't." Rannan finally lost his patience and hit his hand against the mat he was sitting on. "Yes, you do. One of the Devaronians is grieving like mad over her fiancé, your XO and her wing-man are avoiding each other almost to death, and when they are forced to work together they appear more likely to shoot each other than the enemy, this guy who claims to be an ex-Imperial Sergeant is seen at the pilots' lounge like 24/7… Come on, Lochlin, your squadron is falling apart, and you know it. For crying out loud, pull yourself together and _do_ something. Speak to the Devaronian, try to find out what's keeping Kenzy and her wing-man at odds. I told you before, and I'll tell you again as long as I have to: Coreena wouldn't want you to wallow in self-pity. She'd want you to bloody buck up and go back to working like a unit again. She had you all in pretty good shape, you really don't want to ruin that now, do you?"

Marcus starred angrily at the other man. He hated being talked to like that, like he was a school boy needing a thorough dressing down by one of his teachers. But that was not the only reason why he was mad at Rannan. The main reason was that the guy was dead right. Kay _had_ been grieving for Randy ever since the battle, Kenzy and Marten _had_ been avoiding each other for at least three days now, Flann _was_ frequenting the pilots lounge even more than usual. And Coreena _would_ give him a thorough spanking for letting things go down like this. Well, a verbal spanking, mind you. He stood up, walked over to the dummy and gave him a good kick against the torso. Then he said without turning around: "All right. I'll give them the lecture of their lives. Just be prepared for a lot more than just a lecture in case Morgan never got your message." With that he left the room without looking at Rannan again. Who in turn just smirked. _I'll make a Diamond out of you yet._

**

* * *

**

**A/N:** Whoa, look at me! Another chapter like a week after the last. _And_ a new story. I don't want to speak too soon but it looks as though I finally got my groove back. Yay me:D I also did some editing in this story and replaced some early chapters. I'm really, really sorry if I accidentally deleted some of my past A/Ns but I couldn't find the originall files anymore so I had to it this way. Anyway, hope, there are still readers out there who enjoy this storybut are just to lazy to give feedback. So c'mon, people, we writers practically live off reviews. _And_ leaving one will you get a cookie, I promise!


	23. Chapter Twenty Two

** Chapter Twenty Two**

**_Predator_, brig**

It was quiet, but for once this was unsettling Kesra more than any noise would do. In fact, it had been quiet for quite some time now. There had been no intrusions by storm troopers, no prisoner being hurled away to an "interrogation", just someone who threw ration packs into the cell at a random rhythm. _Well, at least we are not left to starve._, Kesra thought a little vexed. Not because they were left alone by Chesfer, mind you, but because there seemed to be the very real danger of being forgotten entirely and left to starve and thirst deep in the belly of an Imperial warship.

Another thing was that not only the bickering between Cayr, R'siikhi and Whares had stopped some time ago but also the conversations in general. Kesra found herself growing more and more restless, and her hunter senses told her that it was the same with the others. She felt like the present calm was the calm before the storm that would broke loose once everyone had surpassed the frustration level.

She heaved a sigh and took a look around. Cayr had settled into a brooding mood, sitting on her bunk with one leg dangling idly to the side and a sufficiently dark look on her face to match the mood she was radiating. Whares and R'siikhi sat as far away from each other as possible, both starring at opposite directions. Dsa'Osra, the Cath, had curled up into a tight ball with her tail slightly twitching from time to time, appearing like a sleeping kitty. Deira had brought her knees to her chin and had her eyes closed. Form time to time a silent tear would slip from them but other than that it seemed she had herself cut off completely from the rest. H'sishi had still the apathetic air around herself that she had when they had brought her back from the last torture session. Kesra feared that with that Chesfer had broken the friendly, understanding and calm Ishi Tip. And the last one – Anasu – had detached herself from them by lying on her bunk and showing them only their back. Kesra sighed again.

Which earned her an intimidated look from Cayr. "Quit that stupid sighing now, will you?" The Rodian flexed her fingers. _Calm_, she reminded herself, _stay calm. You won't make it better by breaking lose a fight._ "And don't look at me like that. Don't look at me at all." Before she could say anything, Whares piped up: "Oh, quit it already, fly girl. What's she done to you anyway, huh?" Cayr gave her an equally dark look and hissed: "Nobody asked you, Commando. I was talking to the Rodian, not you." Whares snared. "You were giving her orders, not talking to her. Who do you think you are, huh?"

By now, all the other prisoners – even H'sishi – had begun to show interest in the events unfolding. Whares stood up from her bunk and sauntered over to Cayr. The other woman stood up as well, provokingly slow. "You really want a hand-to-hand fight, Commando?" The Private straightened up and pushed her chin up. "You afraid, fly girl?" Kesra could almost see the sparks fly between the two women.

And she was pretty sure that whoever was monitoring their cell was enjoying the show thoroughly. This was not good. Once they saw them getting physical they knew that they had finally broken the trust between them. So she did the only thing she could think of. "Whatever happened to "not letting them divide us"?", she asked, and suddenly all eyes were on her, including those of Whares and Cayr. _Okay, now don't screw this up._ "You got anything to say on the matter, Rodian?", a now not only slightly vexed Cayr asked in a dangerously calm voice. "Yes. Don't see that you are doing just what they want you to do? Whatever it is why they stopped the tortures, one effect of it is that we start growing anxious and restless and that sooner or later we will be jumping at each others' throats because we have no other possibility to vent off the frustration. Haven't you all been seeing it? All this tension building up, all this restlessness that has been growing?" R'siikhi snorted. "What are you, some kind of Jedi?"

"I…"

"She doesn't have to be.", cut in the silken voice of Dsa'Osra, the Cath. "You don't need Force powers to sense what's going on with us. Admit it, all of you are frightened by the sudden loss of interest in us, and everyone wonders what this means. And this is getting on all our nerves gradually. If we aren't careful, this will lead to just one big fight in the end. We need to be aware of that." In Cayr's eyes Kesra could see the blatant aggression toward her and Dsa'Osra, and for a moment she just wished this all to end. No matter how, just end.

But then H'sishi spoke up the first time after slipping into the apathetic state she had been in. "I see the aggression, Telsij, but you know as well as I do that neither Kesra nor Ryana or Ganna are the rightful receivers for it. Spare it for those who deserve it. And try to vent off the remaining in some kind of exercise. Which applies to everyone here. You all save yourselves a great deal of trouble with it."

Everyone starred in disbelief at the Ishi Tip. After the broken woman she had been when she had been brought in by the storm troopers no one had expected her to say anything _ever_ again. And now she had made one hell of a statement. Which seemed to have made an impression as well on Cayr as on Whares who both loosened up their stances and returned to their respective places.

Kesra shut her eyes and leant her head back. _That was a close call._ They had really almost come to losing it completely. Even if there was a new cease-fire for the time being Kesra still felt that it was only a matter of time before the fragile trust and acceptance among the prisoners would shatter under the pressure of captivity and confined spaces.

**_

* * *

_**

**_Starfield, _Capt. Morgan's office**

Captain Morgan nodded towards her XO. "Well, you've seen the message. What do you think?" Commander "Growl" D'Jan, a Shistavanen, furrowed his massive brows and said in a low rumble: "Rannan and you haven't been on exactly good terms… I'd rather not trust him." Thoughtfully, Morgan starred off into space for the blink of an eye and then nodded slowly. "Superficially seen… yes, I'd agree with you. But as much faults as Rannan has: He is no traitor. He maybe hotheaded, stubborn and obnoxious, but he is honest and loyal. And he directs the more destructive streaks of his nature towards the enemy. Besides, his XO is more by the book than even you or me, and she seems to have quite an influence on him. No, Rannan wouldn't write something like this if there was any doubt about it being true." The Shistavanen growled a bit, a sign that he didn't quite a agree with her but trusted her in her judgment nonetheless. "So what will we do about this?"

Morgan – a woman in her late thirties who had started her military career just before Palpatine had seized power completely and had defected after eight years – drummed slightly with her fingers on her desk. "If I read that message correctly Rannan and Lochlin are in a dire situation. They know their captain is a traitor but they don't know who else is involved. And the fact alone that Rannan sent _someone_ a message means that even _he_ doesn't see any possibility to resolve this situation on his own." Growl bared his impressive teeth and said: "So you're saying we accept their request and meet the _Liberty_?" Though she knew he wouldn't like it, the Captain nodded. "Yes. A capital ship's captain who fraternizes with the enemy is nothing to be tempered with. Zifra needs to be stopped and disposed off." Her First Mate nodded, with just a hint of reluctance. "I agree. But there are a few things needing to be taken care off. As I take it we will not be able to contact Rannan safely on the _Liberty_. And we will not be able to speak to him in a safe environment there. Which means we have to get him and that Lieutenant Lochlin over to us. And we need a waterproof reason why we are joining the _Liberty_, even if it is only temporary."

"Damn right you are. But I wouldn't be infamous Captain Nomo Morgan, clever and ambitious bitch, if I hadn't already thought of that. Here's what we're gonna do…"

**_

* * *

_**

**_Liberty_, briefing room**

Marcus glanced around and took a mental inventory of his squadron. Kenzy and Blenwell, sitting as far from each other as possible and making a point of not even looking in the direction of the other from the corners of their eyes. _Ridiculous._, he thought. Then his gaze wandered over to the two Devaronian sisters. Rani, the older and always the stronger one, had a supportive arm wrapped around her sister, Kay. The girl's eyes were puffy and red, and she seemed to have lost weight, too. Inwardly, he shook his head. She was no way fit to fly but they needed every pilot. Then he took a look at Flann. There seemed nothing wrong with him at first glance, but Marcus knew better now. He'd found the man in the pilots lounge, nursing at least his third glass of cheap whiskey, and it had only been late morning. The last glance he gave Nien Numb, the Sullustan. _At least that one is neither a troublemaker nor lovesick nor anything else off the trolley._, Marcus thought. The mouse-eared non-human glanced right back at him, expectant as it seemed, and eager to listen. And that was all that was left of a squadron that had just a few months before, been a squadron at full size. _Well…_

"People… you wonder why I summoned you here, right?" Without waiting for any answers, he continued. "Well… as you can see we are shrunken down to a meager little bunch. And I've been… not a good leader lately. For that… for that I'm sorry." He looked around. _Dammit, people,_ say _something._, he thought a little angry. "I didn't see some things I should have seen. Nien, I completely ignored your outstanding flight performance in the last battle." The Sullustan twittered a short cadence. In his time knowing Numb, Marcus had learned to interpret that as meaning "It's okay, don't dwell on it.", and he was thankful for it.

Then he looked at Kay. "Kara, I'm really, really sorry about your loss and I… I just don't know what to say. Randy was friend to me, and I just… I'm sorry for letting you and Deraani alone with this." The young Devaronian looked and him and give him a watery smile. "I know. It's okay, you got your own demons." He just nodded. And went over to Flann. "And you, Pat… I should have noticed that the lounge becomes more and more your quarters. This has to stop, and you know it. If I find you even once more in the lounge, I'll render you unfit to fly. Understood?" For a fleeting second Marcus was afraid Flann would put up a fight but the big man just run a hand over his face and then nodded defeated. As the last, he adressed both Kenzy and Blenwell. "And finally: Saron, Marten, both of you – stop this ridiculous ignoring game. Whatever it is that's going on between you, keep it between yourselves. Or talk it out. Whatever. Just don't let it influence your interaction with the rest of the squadron and your team work because I will not – under no circumstances – change the squadron roster just because you two are both unable to talk out a conflict. Get over it or expect a serious lecture. Understood?" Slowly, Kenzy nodded, and in the same moment Marten gave him a "Yes, sir.", which surprisingly didn't sound the least bit mocking, just weary.

Sufficiently satisfied, Marcus clapped his hands and said: "Well, people, and I think, we shouldn't forget…", and then he was cut off by his beeping comm. Making a face he pulled it out and answered it. "Lochlin here. What is it?" A slightly agitated voice said: "Rannan here. I think I've got interesting news for you. Meet me in hangar bay 2D4." Marcus just answered with a "All right, I'm coming.", signaled Kenzy to accompany him and told the rest of the squadron: "Before I was going to say that we shouldn't forget socializing and just plain having fun, but I take it at the moment this will have to be postponed. Try to relax though." With that he finally went to find Rannan.

**

* * *

**

**A/N:** Wheeeeeeeeee, I'm on a roll, people. Can't quite believe it myself, but I have enough energy for at least two or three more chapters in the next two weeks (question is, though if I've got enough _time_… and if real life doesn't catch up at some point and drain everything out). And I think (and hope), after the next chapter things will definitely heat up and you'll get to see some action (all right, keep those "Finally!"s low enough I don't hear them, okay?). Anyway, one **_huge_** thanks goes to my latest reviewer Bjrn. Keep up the reviewing, and I'll keep up the up-dating ;) That a deal? (and hey, pssst, check out "Paper Cup" and "Hallelujah", they are tags for the 20th chapter)


	24. Chapter Twenty Three

** Chapter Twenty Three**

**_Liberty_, work-out room**

Slightly out of breath Marcus and Saron arrived at the work-out room. "Hangar bay 2D4" was only a term they had adopted to try to mislead anyone tapping them. Saron knocked the sequence they had agreed on and was met by a somewhat anxious Lieutenant Rua by the open door. _Now that's something new._, Saron thought. Rua normally was the epitome of calm and composure. _Something big must've happened._

Once her and Marcus were inside the room and the door was shut, Rannan gestured them to sit down and handed them each a data pad. Both of them turned to read the message on it, and when they looked up, Saron saw a smug smirk plastered all over Rannan's face which practically _screamed_ "See, I _told_ you." Marcus was the first to speak again, glancing up after only shortly scanning the message. "All right. So Morgan got your message. And even agreed to meet the _Liberty_ in two standard days. But what we are gonna do then? We can't be sure that the comm channels are safe, so it would be a bad idea for her to call us. And we…" Rannan held up a hand and shot Marcus a look that said: "Read the fucking manual, fly boy.", and told him: "Look, it's all in there. I told you Morgan was a clever captain, and that proves it. She and her XO had exactly the same ideas. And they found a surprisingly elegant way to bypass these problems."

Saron glanced at her own data pad and tapped through the part where Morgan described what she intended to do. And was astonished. She cleared her throat. "Actually, Rannan is right. That's one hell of a plan. Let's just hope it works."

**_

* * *

_**

**_Predator_, Adm. Chesfer's private office**

Captain Tellik rolled his eyes and looked up at the ceiling, all the time trying to do it as inconspicuously as possible while Admiral Chesfer went on and on in his prattling about those Rebel prisoners. He could just manage to stifle a yawn when Chesfer was finally done and looking at him again. "So, do you now understand why we have to go to Windermere III as fast as possible?" Tellik nodded automatically and responded with a "Yes, of course, sir.", hoping Chesfer was finally done.

The Admiral, however, was far from dismissing Tellik. "Captain, it is absolutely necessary that prisoner 2301 is kept alive until we arrive. Please instruct Lieutenant Kardian adequately. Failure on her side will count as failure on _your_ side." The _Predator_'s captain looked up, suddenly showing some real interest in the whole ordeal. "Sir?" Chesfer threw him a look that could only described as dirty and said in a kind of smug tone: "Well, I know you've taken quite a liking to our dear doctor. You were the one getting her on this ship, so you count as a kind of her mentor for me. Thus: Her failure is your failure. You understand my meaning?" For a moment Tellik didn't know what to say. Then he swallowed lightly and replied: "Sir… Lieutenant Kardian is by no means my protégé. And I'm most certainly _not_… involved with her in any way. We share a completely professional relationship. I did bring her to the ship, yes, but that was because of her outstanding results at the Academy. Since then I have done _nothing_ to fund her career in any way." The Admiral looked at the slightly exasperated Captain in front of him and for a second Tellik could see a smug grin flitting over Chesfer's features. Inwardly he gave a huff. Great. Letting himself be embarrassed by Chesfer The Overly Stupid. _Way to go, Tellik._

After another second of silence Chesfer finally said: "Very well, Captain. Whatever your relationship is, I want you to convince your doctor of the utmost importance of keeping prisoner 2301 alive but in a shape where she will be _absolutely_ innocuous, even awake. Make clear to Kardian that when she fails you fail, too. And _that_ will severely endanger her career. Did I make myself clear?" Vexed at Chesfer's demeanor Tellik just said: "Very, sir." Chesfer just nodded and then said: "Very well. Dismissed, Captain." Tellik stood up, saluted and went out of the office.

**

* * *

**

**Sick bay**

She woke up, feeling like hell in an instant. Every bone in her body was aching, the meanwhile constant soreness in her lower abdomen and between her legs had changed to a fiery pain, making her wince and whimper even at the slightest move and her head felt like it would explode at any moment. But all this was nothing compared to the images in her head that were coming to her, one by one at first and then faster and faster until she thought she would die at the sheer intensity of them.

Storm troopers coming up to her, howling her up, the bald admiral – _Chesfer_, she reminded herself – sneering at her, hitting her, making her squirm every time he so much as poked her with a finger in the arm. Coming nearer and nearer, nestling at his belt, grabbing her, tearing off her clothes… And the worst was the feeling of utter helplessness as she was strapped to a table, not able to get away from the groping hands, the hot mouth, the husky and heavy breathing…

Suddenly she heard herself screaming at the top of her lung and her body arching upwards against the ties that were wound around her wrists. Only seconds after that she heard a female voice saying something in a quiet and soothing sound. It was only after some time she could identify the words as "Shht, everything's okay. He can't hurt you here. I'll give you something to lessen the pain. You just have to hold still for a moment. Won't hurt a lot, I promise.", and she found her body complying with the order. She was about to squirm and scream again when suddenly a numbing sensation spread to her body and made her feel as if lying in a cloud of cotton. Slowly she opened her eyes and found herself gazing again at the perfectly white ceiling of the _Predator_'s sick bay. A hoarse whisper escaped her mouth.

"Kill me." Kardian did a double take, as the voice of the woman before her was to low and to husky to understand anything. "Huh?" The woman heaved a breath and said a little louder. "Kill me. I beg you. Just do it." It seemed as if this had taken almost all her strength since after that her breathing was more labored than before. Not answering immediately, Kardian took a look at her patient. Before her was lying not a human but a shell, battered and bruised beyond anything she had seen so far. And she had seen a _lot_ since becoming _Predator_'s CMO. The bundle before her was malnourished, bruised, bleeding from several wounds and had obviously been abused and raped several times. And it – _she_, Kardian reminded herself sharply – was begging her to kill her.

It was one of the hardest decisions she ever had to make. Killing the woman would end her torments. It would free her from her captor, from the agonizing pain – both physically and mentally – she must be in. And it would finally mean that Kardian had to betray her medic oath. She had sworn to _never_ kill a patient deliberately, and she would stick to that. Ilara Kardian was beyond the point of worrying about her career. Tellik coming to her and telling her to keep the woman alive just so that she could transferred without any danger to another prison and from there to Lord Vader had just been the final step in her long road away from the Empire. No, she finally had made her decision. She would find a way to defect. And to return all the prisoners that had been her patients and were still alive up to now.

Kardian cleared her throat. "No. I once told it to one of the others, and I'll tell the same to you: I've sworn an oath to protect my patients, not to kill them, and I'll stick to that. You want to get away from him, you'll have to trust me to find a way. But you're not taking the easy way out." The patient's eyes opened and looked at her, disturbingly clear under the mass of bruises forming over them. "You're not fulfilling your oath, doctor. Letting me live means letting to torture go on." The woman took another deep breath. "You'd serve your patient more by killing her. I will carry this whole ordeal with me where ever I go, whatever I do. Killing me would be more merciful than anything else."

Kardian's grip on the syringe in her hand fastened involuntarily. "I… will not kill you. Letting me kill you would mean letting Chesfer win. You really want that? You want him to triumph over you? That's not what he deserves, and you know that. No, you are going to live and see him being repaid what he did to all of you." Was that a smile forming on the deformed lips of her patient? "That's what _you_ want, doctor. _I_ only want peace. Give it to me, I beg you again."

The doctor unconsciously broke the syringe in her hand. Her brain was working overtime. Was the woman right? Did she only want to keep her alive because of what _she_ wanted, paying no regard to what her patient needed? Kardian looked at her hands, one of them bloody because of all the fissures coming form the shards of the broken syringe. _Yes_, she thought, _blood on your hands. You've got_ blood _on your hands, all over them. Because you sewed together Chesfer's prisoners time after time so he could tear them up again and again. You will not safe them, none of them._ She looked at the woman again. And suddenly she had an idea. _Oh yes, I can. And I will. Even this one._

"I'm sorry. You can't imagine _how_ sorry I am. But I won't kill you. I will be betray just one more oath. And that's the one I swore to the Emperor. I got a plan. Just you trust me on this."

* * *

**A/N:** Dear me, this one's been done at half past three in the morning. Really should be going to bed now. But before that just some things: This chapter was really difficult to write, most of all the last part. I just hope I did that correctly since Kardian's decision was a real tough one to describe and develop.

Apart from this I again thank Bjrn for keeping up with this story. Thanks for reviewing, that gets me going :) And there are some people who have me on their author alerts list. Would be nice if they could review this story as well, if that's the one why they put me up on their lists in the first place.

Anyway, am now really going to bed. The sick-bay part took away all my remaining energies.


	25. Chapter Twenty Four

** Chapter Twenty Four**

**_Star Field_, bridge**

"Ma'am, we are being hailed by the _Liberty_." Captain Nomo Morgan nodded at Ensign Ganner. "Put them through." The young ensign pushed some buttons, and Captain Gatton Zifra's small holographic form appeared on the right arm of Morgan's command chair and said: "What a surprise to meet you here, Nomo." Morgan nodded and tried to ban the scowl from her face and stay her usual cold calm as she answered: "Yes, long time, no see, Gatton. However, we are not here for chit-chat. We are here for business." For a second there was sheer panic flitting over Zifra's face. _Guilty as charged._, Morgan thought grimly. She shot a short look at her XO who only bared his teeth. He'd seen it, too, no doubt.

"And what… business might that be?" Zifra still hadn't got a grip on himself again. Somewhat satisfied Morgan leaned her chin on her right hand. "Orders from the Council. I'll have them sent to you in an instant." She nodded at Ganner. "Send the Captain the orders, Ensign." The young woman looked slightly distressed, but did as ordered. _Maybe it was a mistake to introduce her as well._, Captain Morgan thought a bit worried and took a look at Zifra's small holo projected image, that was bent over a data pad. After a minute of silence Zifra cleared his throats and looked at her, the discomfort showing through even more clearer now. "I… am happy that the Council decided to send us some more reinforcements. I understand it that you will take the Diamonds back on board?" She smirked. "Actually, no, you must have misread some of the data. We are already carrying a fighter squadron, and several squads of troopers. Our capacities are packed to the maximum. They'll have to stay at the _Liberty_ for the time being." It had been one of the toughest points of her plan, and she had debated over it for at least an hour with Growl, Ganner and Captain T'Inbre, the commander of the Y-Wing squadron the _Star Field_ was carrying at the moment. Growl had argued that it would be better to order Rannan's squadron back to the _Star Field_, because from the point they were back on the ship they wouldn't have to think about opportunities to speak to them anymore, but Ganner had pointed out – and here Morgan had seen herself proven true in her initial opinion of the Ensign – that they would most probably need the Diamonds on the _Liberty_ as a support to the Grays. The more people, the more power that had.

Morgan could see the wheels working behind Zifra's forehead and patiently waited for him to digest the information. Then, finally, he said: "All right, although I'm not really happy with this. Rannan can be such a pain in the ass." This was one point where she absolutely had to agree with Zifra. _He is, however, not such a pathetic little traitor as yourself. Which kind of makes up for the whole being a pain in the ass thing._ Morgan cleared her throat. Time for the final stage of this small exchange. "As much as it pains me to say it: Yes, you're absolutely right. I do, however, have to meet him for clearing up some things from before he and his squadron left. Therefore I request a meeting with him, his XO and two of his flight officers. Is that possible?" She could see the question marks plastered all over Zifra's face. _Come on, you're stupid enough to take that bait, Zifra._ After a second of him looking down to check something his head came up again and he said: "All right. I'll send them over to you in one hour. How's that?" Morgan had to work hard to conceal the smug grin that threatened to spread all over her face. "Fine. Oh, and I'd like to have you and your XO over for a strategy meeting in two hours. Is that possible?" _Come on, we're almost through. Don't spoil that now by actually using that brain of yours._, she thought and actually found herself holding her breath while waiting for his answer. "Well… yes. See you then, Nomo. Zifra out." With that his holograph disappeared and Ganner broke the connection to the _Liberty_. With a relieved sigh Morgan turned to Growl and muttered: "That went well.", under her breath.

**_

* * *

_**

**_Predator, _sick bay**

_All right_, Kardian thought, _this is it. Don't mess this up, now._ She took a deep breath and then turned back to Tellik who sat on the bunk before her. His monthly physical was due, and this time she would have to do more than just try to escape his attempts at casual conversation. She actually had to pretend to being actively interested in it.

"Sir… may I ask you a question?" Tellik straightened up while she ran her scanner over his naked torso – _no need to get undressed, you stupid show off, scanners _are _able to work through clothes_ - and nodded his head in a rather patronizing way. "Of course, doctor." Kardian cleared her throat and tried to look fully concentrat on the blood sample she was taking. "When 2301 is transferred down to Windermere III, what is to become of the other prisoners?" Tellik raised an eyebrow. "Why do you want to know, Lieutenant?" _Darn it, I knew this would happen._ "Scientific interest, sir. Some of them are _really_ fascinating objects. And I heard they have excellent laboratories for all kinds of xenobiotic research on Windermere base. I'd… sir, can I ask you favor?" She hated to be talking like this, like a gawky scientist. And she hated cheating on a superior, even if this superior was a conceited over ambitious brick. Over five years of Imperial service hadn't just passed her by.

Tellik, however, wasn't the least bit intimidated with her inferior behavior. "Sure, Lieutenant, just ask away." _Don't mess this up, don't mess this up, don't mess this up…_ "Sir… I'd… I'd love to be able to do a bit more in-depth studies with _all_ of the prisoners, you know, some comparing analysis between humans and non-humans and stuff like that. And I wondered whether… it would be possible to get them all down to Windermere base and let me run some tests with them in the facilities there. I am sure, Admiral Chesfer would be very interested in the results." There, it was out, and even not sounding half as rushed as she feared. In fact, it sounded really professional. And she hated herself for it as she saw the gleam in Tellik's eyes when talking of performing inhumane experiments on sentient beings. "I cannot promise you anything yet but I will talk to the Admiral and try to persuade him. What tests do you actually have in mind?" She swallowed lightly, and hoped that he attributed it to some girlish excitement or shyness, not nervousness at the danger of being found out. "Mostly some in-depth analysis on the effects of certain methods of questioning on humans and non-humans. I'm sure the results will be worth having a look for the Admiral to give him some hints as to how to perfect his own methods." The _Predator_'s captain made a thoughtful face. "Well, as you know our dear admiral is already an expert on the field of… questioning."

"Yes, he is. But there's still too much… outward damage done which needs time for fixing. If I remember it correctly one of the specialties of the Windermere researchers are to find methods to cause more pain and less… mess, if you get my meaning. I'd love to have the opportunity to make use of their facilities to do some studies on my own." And then she hated herself. For actually lowering herself to a pout. For working in the same profession as these lunatics on Windermere base. _You're just pretending. You'll be fast enough to get away with the prisoners before you actually have to perform what you are suggesting. You stay calm now._, she reminded herself over and over again while Tellik took on his uniform again and seemed to contemplate her request. Then, finally, he said: "All right, I see your point. And I might actually be able to persuade the Admiral. You'll get word from me in two standard days when we'll be discussing the results of my physicals." She nodded. "Very well, sir. Thank you very much, sir. I already look forward to it, sir." Tellik nodded, again with a gleam in his eyes and muttered a "Certainly not more than me, Lieutenant.", shortly before leaving sick bay finally.

**_

* * *

_**

**_Star Field_, ship officers' briefing room**

Captain Nomo Morgan was having a good look at the four pilots before her. There were Commander Rannan and his XO, Lieutenant Rua, him smug as ever and her calm as ever. The woman could have been a younger version of Morgan, with her dark skin and sharp looks and short stature, if her hair had been shorter and she had had the same air of dignified, yet cold calm around her as Morgan had.

And there were Lieutenant Lochlin, de-facto commander of Gray Squadron, a young man with a slightly haunted and fatigued appearance, and his XO, Lieutenant Kenzy, a woman with rugged features who was radiating off skepticism and a kind of wariness. Both of them had come to the _Star Field_ under the pretense of being two of Rannan's pilots.

When Morgan was done with her quick survey of the four pilots from the _Liberty_, she finally ordered them to sit and took a seat herself. Besides her there were three other members of the _Star Field_'s staff present: Her XO, Ganner and T'Inbre. Sitting around a large table, each one of them had a stack of data cards and a data pad lying before them. Morgan cleared her throat and then said: "All right people, all of you know why we're sitting here. And I assume all of you have read the suggestions I've sent you?" They nodded. "Now, any additions, comments new suggestions? Questions?" She looked around. After a second of silence Rannan was the first one to speak. "You do realize that you want us to stage a full-grown mutiny, right?" Morgan just smirked and said: "Actually, it's not a mutiny. I didn't lie to Zifra because we _are_ here under orders from the Council. Just not under the orders I sent him. There's a data card labeled "Council". Please slip that one into your data pads, and you'll be surprised. I promise." Looking at her skeptically, the _Liberty_'s pilots did as ordered. Seconds later, surprise _did_ color their faces. "Whoa… you could have told us earlier, you know?", Rannan exclaimed but Morgan hold out a hand. "No, I couldn't. I received them just two hours ago."

"So… basically these orders mean that we have free hand in disposing of Zifra, right?", Lochlin threw into the debate. Morgan nodded. "Yes. And even more: We are _ordered_ to do it. As you can see, the Council knew of my plan and approves of it. I say we start putting our money where our mouth is and get started at the actual details." A nod came from all of them, and with that they finally got to work.

* * *

**A/N: **Wheeeeeee, 'nother chapter! All right, so I promised some action three chapters or something like that ago, and we're still in the planing stage but we'll get there, people, I promise! 

And of course thanks to Bjrn again.

Anyway, it's way into the night again so I better head for my bed (hey, that rhymes!) and say "Nightynight, folks!"


	26. Chapter Twenty Five

** Chapter Twenty Five**

**_Star Field_, shuttle hangar**

"Welcome aboard the _Star Field_, Gatton. Lieutenant Commander Imes.", Morgan nodded at Zifra and the short, brown-haired woman at his side and continued: "Now, it would be best to discuss everything in the ship officers' briefing room. My XO, communications officer and fighter squadron leader are already waiting there. If you'd please follow me." She turned and lead the two officers to her briefing room. And she just hoped that both them didn't notice the security officers that were moving into place around them quietly. As she entered the briefing room with Zifra and Imes, she gave her comm a double click. It told her Security Chief to send two heavily armed security officers to the door of the briefing room.

When they were inside, Zifra was the first to say something. "What are my pilots still doing here? I just… who was that in those fighters?"

"That, Gatton, is not of your concern. Would you and Lieutenant Commander Imes now please hand over your weapons to me?" The display of emotions on the Captain's and the Lieutenant Commander's face would have been quite entertaining if the whole situation hadn't been so serious. On Imes' face they could see everything from confusion to panic to sheer disbelief to utter helplessness as she turned to Zifra and said: "Sir…", while Zifra tried to keep his facial expression impassive but failed gloriously. There was mostly panic, with just a hint of hostility and desperation which alerted her. She just hoped she wasn't the only one having seen it.

Which she hadn't because suddenly Zifra had his sidearm drawn and moved towards Ensign Ganner in an attempt at taking her hostage. The Ensign, however must have somehow anticipated his move and had ducked under his arm and kicked his legs away from under him so that he laid flat on his back. Immediately afterwards he found Captain Morgan, Commander Rannan and Lieutenant Lochlin towering over himself. Rannan was the fastest to react and disarm him, and then Lochlin was dragging him upwards and shoving him into the nearest wall. "And now, you filthy little son of…"

"Stop it, Lieutenant!", bellowed Morgan's voice together with Rannan yelling: "Lochlin, get a grip!" It took the Lieutenant at least several seconds where he just glared at the Captain. Zifra could have sworn to never having seen such hatred in any being's eyes and for a second or two feared for his life seriously. But then Lochlin let go of him again, slightly staggering away from him and still glaring at him. Zifra didn't get much time to recover since he looked directly into the muzzle of Morgan's blaster immediately after the incident with Lochlin. "By orders of the High Council of the Rebel Alliance I hereby relieve you from your commission as the Captain of the ship _Liberty_ and place you and your XO under my orders. You will assist us in retrieving the prisoners taken by Admiral Chesfer and then be placed under arrest and brought before a court-martial. Lieutenant Commander Imes, hand your sidearm and all other weapons you have with you to Commander D'Jan." Zifra opened his mouth to protest but Morgan shut him up just with a glare and said: "No, Gatton, I don't want to hear _anything_ about this from you. There's evidence against you coming from a trustworthy source. And as I know you, your strongest reason was your overwhelming cowardice."

"I did it for my _ship_ and my _crew_.", Zifra managed to spat at her, but she just answered with a cold more dangerous and frightening than any yelling could have been: "No, you did it just for yourself. And you deliberately betrayed Captain Mallan, turning her over to Chesfer although fully knowing what he is and what he does to female prisoners. You have _no_ excuse."

Now it was Imes' turn to say something as she suddenly piped up: "What the hell are you talking about? _Treason_? I… I… sir?" Instead of Zifra, Rannan answered her: "Captain Zifra is accused of fraternization with the enemy, circulate them data, conspiring against fellow officers – the whole package." The woman's face changed its color to a deep shade of pink. "I didn't… I would never… How _dare_ you?" Before Rannan could retort anything, Rua beat him to it: "We assumed you would have knowledge of all this and participate because you had to work closely with Zifra, and it would be impossible for him to organize everything on his own." She had spoken calmly to appease Imes and it seemed to pacify her at least a bit. "I… I swear I didn't know anything about this. However he did it, either he did this on his own or had some else helping him, but _I_ did nothing. Please, you have to believe me." From the edge of the group there came the quiet voice of Ensign Ganner: "Well, I do." Everyone looked at her. "Don't… look at me like this, please. I just have the strong feeling that we can." Some eyebrows were raised, some looks exchanged. Then, Morgan said: "All right. We'll consider this. For the time being, Captain Zifra and Lieutenant Commander Imes will be guarded in my office by the two security officers standing outside." With that she went to the door and ordered the security officers from outside to bring the _Liberty_'s officers to her office and guard them there and then returned to the room to discuss the event and the strategy. After all, she had announced that as a "strategy meeting" to Zifra.

**_

* * *

_**

**_Predator_, bridge**

"Sir, there's an encrypted transmission coming in." Tellik lifted an eyebrow at the communications officer. "And this should interest me exactly why?" The ensign cleared his throat. "The code is… strange, sir." Tellik heaved a dramatic sigh and looked down the crew pit like a hawk-bat. "All right, show me." He could see the ensign squirm and allowed himself a small smug smirk. _Always remember who is watching you._, he thought.

On the ensign's screen appeared some numbers and letters, and Tellik instantaneously recognized the code. "Transfer the message to my account.", he told the ensign slightly tight-lipped. Then he told his XO to take the bridge and went straight to his private office, trying hard not to grumble. _Zifra, you incompetent son of a bantha, what do you want_ this _time?_

When he arrived at his office, he ran the message through the decoder and opened it. Which he wished to having never done at all when he read the text:

_Have new orders. Am afraid orders could lead to unnecessary confrontation. Need coordinates for next three stops to avoid confrontation. Urgently._

Why now? What stupid orders did they gave this foolish coward? _But in the other hand: It_ is _his part of the deal to warn us and stay clear of us. Well, _one_ of the parts._ Tellik leant back in his seat and starred at the opposite wall. After a few more moments he finally typed in the answer, attached the requested nav-data, encrypted the message and sent it.

**_

* * *

_**

**_Liberty_, pilots lounge**

"You know, you are supposed to being asleep."

Without turning around, Marcus just shot her a "What is it?" and continued starring at the black void outside the transpari steel window. Already slightly annoyed Saron crossed the dark and deserted pilots lounge and let herself fall into the seat beside the one where he slouched in. For now, she chose to stay as calm as possible and to ignore whatever had bitten him. "We have the coordinates of the next three stops. It's a garrison planet called Windermere III. Morgan decided to get Chesfer there. There will be troops both on-planet and in space, but they're not suspecting us so we hope to have the element of surprise on our side. We'll be there in two standard days, and Morgan orders us to get our ships and ourselves in top shape so I suggest you get your sleep… sir.", she finished in a slightly mocking tone, and was surprised to find almost no reaction at all.

Well, she had one last card up her sleeve. "She also made it very clear to me to make it clear to _you_, that she won't tolerate any more outbursts from you like that one on the _Star Field_, not on one of the ships nor in battle nor anywhere else." Saron leant forward with her forearms placed on her thighs and looked at Marcus. The only reaction she could make out was that he squeezed his eyes shut tight for a few moments and then starred out of the window again. And that was the moment where she lost the precious little bit that was left of her patience.

She stood up abruptly and slammed her fist against the view port. "Dammit, Lochlin! Just quit this whole… act your putting up here. Morgan's right with ordering you to hold your emotions in check. Whatever it is you're acting on here, just stop it. Stop this whole moody I-just-can't-find-a-balance-crap. You're a commanding officer for the Stars' sake." He didn't say anything, but at least gathered himself from his slouching position up in his seat. He leant forward, just as she had done and put his face in his hands. Giving a quiet huff Saron returned to her seat and ran a hand over her face. "Just tell me, Lieutenant. What is it?" She knew she wasn't good with this counseling thing but she had the feeling that she should at least try.

"I can't tell you, Lieutenant. I just…"

"If… if you can't tell me as your subordinate then tell me as your _friend_.", she threw in, but that was obviously another wrong thing to say because when he looked at her she saw nothing friendly, just loneliness and hurt and a slight hint of desperation. "I don't have any friends left, Lieutenant. And now I'd appreciate it if you would let me alone." Saron knew that technically this meant she was dismissed, but she wouldn't give up this time. She had let him walk away one time, she wasn't going to another time. If he could tell her what to do about the thing with Blenwell then she could squeeze out of him whatever was bothering him. She had the vague feeling that it had a lot to do with the Cap being taken prisoner and the relationship between Lochlin and Mallan before that but she knew that people shouldn't bottle up everything inside of them. _Said the woman who mastered the art of bottling up with flying colors and centuries ago._, she thought a little sourly.

"Lieutenant…Marcus… I… it's got to something with the Cap, right?" He shook his head. "Look…"

"No, I won't. You got some serious issues, and they need to be fixed. And I need to know what this is all about 'cause I'm still your 2IC. You're not the only one with a responsibility to the squadron. I have it, too, and I don't want anything to go wrong in the most inconvenient moment. So tell me what this is all about. What was it between you and the Cap? Why are you acting like this? Just spill it." For a moment she feared that she had gone too far, crossing the line to insubordination, but he just looked at her, all of a sudden seeming extremely tired. "I… understand what you want to say but let me be in peace. Just for once. I'll tell you after the mission but up to then I just don't want to talk about it. It's just… just too much right now." _Well, at least it was_ some _reaction._, she thought, and said: "Well… all right. But no stalling after the mission. You'll tell me. Or… or you should at least see one of the counselors here. For now, I'll just… go." With that she stood up and went for the door. Just before she had reached it, he spoke up again: "Lieutenant… Saron, whatever it was between Cor… the Cap and me… I don't know what it was… but it sure as hell wasn't what it could have been." She smiled to herself, saying to him: "Don't worry. We'll get her back."

She was surprised to find him saying something more: "And Saron, did you speak to Blenwell already?" She winced. _I should have known we wouldn't be let off the hook that easily._ "Where do you think I was just going to right now?" When he answered this time, she could hear the smile in his voice, too. "Dismissed, Lieutenant."

* * *

**A/N: **All right, so this took me a little longer but everything was roughed up pretty much over here because the Chancelor decided he wanted to bring forward the elections for the German parliamnet a little bit and announced them to be this fall instead of next. And me being member of a political party, I was completely off the roll for several days, and I haven't been at home this weekend so I couldn't finish the chapter at the time I would have liked to.

Anyway, now it's done, and people, the climax _is_ getting nearer, I promise ;) Hope you had fun with that chapter, though. And as always, feedback will earn you a cookie, and flames will roast my marshmellows.


	27. Chapter Twenty Six

**Chapter Twenty Six**

**_Liberty_, work out room**

It was like the first time, only with roles reversed. This time Blenwell was beating the dummy to pulp, and she was standing in the doorway, watching. She knew she had to approach him eventually but just for a little while more she staid with just enjoying the show.

For a man of his size and stature he moved amazingly fast and fluid. _And that applies to_ all _kinds of moving._, she thought and almost blushed at it. There had been two more times in the work-out room that involved a work-out _slightly_ different from what the room was meant for. And both times had filled her with absolute pleasure and had almost destroyed her at the same time, giving her a lot of restless nights afterwards.

She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and tried to get all the self-loathing and the reproaches out of her mind. Instead there was only the picture of two bodies – hers and Blenwell's – sweating and panting and hanging on to each other in a firm, desperate and passionate grip, almost devouring each other. As if there would be no tomorrow. Gods, she longed to feel him all over her, _inside_ her again, if only for one last time. At the same time she knew she had to stop this. Maybe he was feeling nothing through all of this, just venting of some steam but _she_ couldn't go on like this forever because she knew that sooner or later she would start to fall apart.

Finally Saron willed herself to take a deep breath and approach Blenwell who still was aiming kicks and blows at the dummy. Standing just a step away from him she cleared her throat and said in the slightly arrogant tone she knew would drive him up the wall in no time: "Time for a chat, Flight Officer." He spun around, his fist raised to hit her squarely in the face. Her hand went up just in time to catch his wrist and stop his fist from hitting home. "You really have to get faster, Blenwell.", she said with a smirk, still holding his wrist in a steel grip. However, if it was about sheer strength he could beat her anytime which both of them knew. So, after a second of starring contest, she decided to let his hand go.

He still didn't say anything though, just turned back to the dummy and was about to attack it again when she firmly grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. "When I say "time for a chat", I _mean_ "time for a chat", and I mean _now_." She still had her hand on his shoulder and felt his whole body stiffen all of a sudden. She knew this. He was just a small step away from exploding. _But if that will make him talk, then so be it._, she thought a little sourly.

"Oh, suddenly it's all about talking, huh?" So he chose to be sarcastic. Fine, she could deal with that. "If you can remember, we were _ordered_ to do some talking. And I for once am not someone to ignore or disobey orders." He snorted. "Yeah, just like you _disobeyed_ Mallan's order to abort your attack on the _Predator_." She should have known he would bring this up. _Of course_ he would bring this up. But she didn't have time for this. So she chose to ignore it. "Quit beating around the bush and trying to get away. We are ordered to talk, we talk. End of discussion." Suddenly his fist came out of nowhere but shortly before hitting her he seemed to have realized what he was about to do and turned around in one swift motion and slammed it into the dummy. It was pure will power that kept her from jumping back in fear, and for a moment there was no sound, just the slightly heaving breath of Blenwell penetrating the room.

And then he turned back, willing to bring her down, just by starring at her and started to speak again in a low voice which in a way was louder than any yell could have been. "This is what it's all about, huh? Getting what _you_ want and the way _you_ want it, right, _Lieutenant_? First it's "Don't you dare even looking at me, Blenwell.", then it's "Be my fucking dummy-boy, Blenwell.", then it's "Don't talk about it, it's just sex, Blenwell." And now it's "We have to talk, Blenwell." But you know what? I'm sick of it. Sick of being your toy, your servant, your… whatever you want me to be. I'm out of this. Try to get someone else to "relieve the tension" or whatever you did this for." With that he turned back but didn't do anything.

Only after a few more seconds Saron had finally gathered herself back together enough to speak without betraying all the anger and hurt and disappointment in her. "Fine. But don't let this influence your performance, Flight Officer." And with that she turned to leave. Just when she had almost reached the door, he spoke up another time: "Just tell me one more thing." She paused. "Was it worth it? What was in it for you? And why me?" For a moment she contemplated just leaving the room, afraid, she might give away herself, but then she chose to turn around and answer him: "Honestly? I don't know. I'm sorry, but I just… Excuse me, but I don't think you even want to know. I… have to go."

Why she let him come near her again, and what had possessed him to do so in the first place, she couldn't say. Not then, and not later. But suddenly he stood before her, again, with something else in his eyes, and in his whole posture which she couldn't quite put her finger on. He just starred at her, and all of a sudden tipped her chin up with his index finger and kissed her. Not roughly and devouring as all the times before but tentatively and… soothingly. And when his hands started to caress her rather then roam about her body like before she was lost to him. And when he started trailing tender kisses along her cheekbone and throat down to her shoulder she did something she hadn't done for over ten years: She let herself cry.

**_

* * *

_**

**_Predator_, Lt. Kardian's quarters**

All right… she had a bag of medicaments, her blaster, some spare cloths, ID… Ilara Kardian looked at the bag in front of her and was slightly astonished. _So this is my whole life in there._, she thought. The bag was a normal duffel bag, standard Imperial issue. All her uniforms were still hanging in her locker in need order, so there were only private clothes inside of the bag. Along with a few holos of her family and home planet, a personal data pad and some book-cards there was nothing else private. It kind of depressed her that her whole life fit in a neat meager bag.

Shaking her head a little she scolded herself that she had other problems now. She had yet to find a way to get rid of the shuttle pilots and security personnel that would be assigned to her shuttle for sure. And she had to worry about how to get away from the planet once she had the shuttle to herself. Kardian knew that there was a VSD assigned to Windermere III, and a whole wing of TIE-fighters based on the ground.

_Kardian, you fool. How could you ever think about doing something as stupid as this?_, her inner Imperial instructor bellowed at her but she chose to ignore him just for once. _I have been following your teachings far too long. Look what it made out of me. A maintenance technician for an admiral's newest toys. I'm sick of it._ And she was happy to have seen this at last. Somehow she knew that her lessons from the Imperial Medical Academy of all things were the ones getting her through all of this. _Everything for the patient, even the impossible._ She smiled. The mentioning of this particular lesson brought to her the memory of a thing her father loved to say on every possible occasion: "Be realistic. Try the impossible.", and finally she had her jitters under control and her resolve back. She was going to this, no matter how high the risks were.

Kardian smiled. Finally a plan began to take form in her mind. There were still two standard days left, and she would use them wisely.

**

* * *

**

**Isolation cell**

She woke up, hurting. But what news were that, anyway? These days she _always_ woke up hurting. Hurting in the face, hurting on her arms, hurting between the legs… for quite some time now she had the feeling that she consisted of nothing but pain. She had even on some point more or less forgotten her name. Maybe it had been when the bald admiral had stopped asking her any questions and had just plainly tortured her. The woman in the cell could remember that it was something starting with C… Cori… yes, something like this.

Slowly Cori opened her eyes, although she knew it was no use. She would only be blended by orange twilight. And so she shut them in the same instant that the first orange rays met her eyes. For a while she sat completely still, trying to will the pain away. She had managed that, during one of the torture session. At some point she only wished the pain to go away with all her might and suddenly it _had_ gone away. Only for a brief second, but in this brief second she was free of pain, sitting at a camp fire, talking to someone… someone… _Am I going insane? Is my mind only playing trick after trick at me?_, she wondered, a bit idly.

She took an unsteady breath, trying to concentrate on the camp fire scene again. On the someone she been talking to… It had been a male voice, but _different_ male from the male voices that were now talking to her, making her cringe at only thinking about male voices, male _presences_. No, no it was… low, soothing… She knew the voice. The voice had once been comforting her, whispering good night to her… _I_ am _going insane. I'm sitting in an isolation cell, with no clue when I will be tortured again or being shown mercy finally and being killed, and all I can think about is some voice…_, the last tiny remaining rational part of her screamed at the dark void her mind had become.

No… no, not _some_ voice. _A_ voice. _Marcus'_ voice, it finally came to her. Yes, Marcus. The name rang something inside of her, something _good_. Yes, something warm and fuzzy and… nice. Whoever Marcus was, he would bring her through all of this, she decided. Thinking about him made her feel warmed and made indeed go away the pain if only a little. A small smile flit over her features.

An observer might have decided that _now_ was the moment where she was beginning to become _really_ insane but to her it felt as if she had finally gotten a part, albeit a small one, of her sanity back.

_**

* * *

**_

_**Liberty,**_** work-out room**

She never ceased to amaze him, he had to give her credit for that. When Saron had turned around and had tried answering his question, Marten had been shocked to see the helplessness and loneliness displayed in her eyes. Hell, the turning around itself had been a small miracle, after what had passed between them before her leaving. Hurrying over to her and kissing her had really been the only thing seeming appropriate for him at that time.

But he should have known he wouldn't be able to stop after it. He should have known he wouldn't be able to keep away from trying to express with his body what he couldn't express with his words. And so he had. Had put every ounce of the strange, confusing, frightening feelings she evoked in him in his touches and kisses, had tried to bring a tenderness into the whole act that made up for all the roughness and rashness of the first three times. When he found out she was crying he was scared to death, so much that for a second he was almost paralyzed.

She had felt it, and she had looked away, seeming almost ashamed of it. It had brought him out of his stupor, making him try to kiss away the tears. When he had attempted to say something she had surprised him by taking his face in her hands and kissing him as he had kissed her: tentatively, tenderly and just a little insecurely. From there on, both of them seemed to be communicating not by words but by touch. At one point, when he still had been capable of thinking halfway straight, the thought _So much for talking everything out._ had crossed his mind, and he had halfheartedly smirked inwardly to that. Not long after this there had been no room for coherent thought in his mind anymore.

And now he was sitting in the work-out room again, with his arms and legs loosely around her, his forehead against hers and was desperately hoping against hope she would not just get up and walk away like after the last three times. And she didn't. She just sat there, one of her hands on his shoulder, the other cradling and idly stroking his neck. Blenwell knew he couldn't take this anymore. Even if he wasn't a Jedi, he could feel the questions and desperation and guilt and a whole lot more feelings radiate off her. So he heaved a sigh and opened his mouth to say something, but she bet him to it, saying: "Don't. Whatever you wanted to say, just don't. _Please_."

It almost killed him, hearing her say "Please" in a pleading, almost _begging_ manner. This wasn't the Saron Kenzy he knew. The Saron Kenzy he knew was demanding, firm, _strong_. Not begging, cowering, _weak_. He cupped her cheek with one hand and turned her face to him, holding her gaze with his eyes, but only for a moment as she turned away again. The fear of her leaving without anything more grew unbearable in him again, but it was drawn back slightly by her putting her forehead on his shoulder. He encircled her shoulders and draw her even nearer to him. Whatever turmoil was storming inside her, he would be there, even if she couldn't speak about it to him.

For a moment, she even hugged him back, and he thought she would stay, finally letting him in. But she loosened her embrace and said, with an almost unbearable sadness in her eyes and in her voice.: "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. But I'm not what is right for you. I just… I can't." And then she kissed his forehead and entangled herself and finally went out of the door, without looking back. One second, only the slight humming of the ship's engines were heard in the work-out room. Then, suddenly, the perfect stillness was cut into by a frustrated howl, and the dummy was in for another round of being beaten up thoroughly.

* * *

**A/N: **Wheeeeeee, 'nother chapter! Just as a note: I was listening to songs like "Out of reach" by Gabrielle, "Killin' Kind" by Shelby Lynne and "I don't know you anymore" and "Two beds and a coffee machine" by Savage Garden when writing the two parts taking place on the _Liberty_ which maybe explains their depressive basic tone. But I love those parts, and I hope you take at least a little pleasure in them as well, even if they don't neccesarily created the happiest of moods. 

Anyway, here goes a very big cookie to Bjrn :D


	28. Chapter Twenty Seven

**Chapter Twenty Seven**

**_Liberty_, Lt. Lochlin's quarters**

Marcus had twelve hours left until he would finally get his chance at getting back at Chesfer. He knew he shouldn't let his personal feelings interfere with his duty but he was way past the point to care. Ever since the battle Coreena had been captured and Randy had been killed he had been a little beside himself, and he had simply stopped to care for protocol or decorum. He knew he was totally unfit to be a commanding officer if he continued behaving like this but even about this he didn't really care anymore. The only thing that had remained important to him where bringing Zifra down and getting Coreena back.

He knew that actually it was time to resign his commission and find a nice planet somewhere to settle down if he had come this far already but he just couldn't. At least not as long as Coreena was in the hands of this… monster. _You don't even know if she's still alive after all._, a treacherous voice whispered in the back of his mind but he chose to ignore it. Somehow he just _knew_ that she still was. He _felt_ it. There had been those dreams… He had seen her, and he had _been_ her, and it had all been so confusing…

Determined not to let the memories of these dreams overpower him, he put his face in his hands and squeezed his eyes shut tight. She was alive, and he knew it and that was all that counted. _But in what state will she be?_ If _you manage to get her out there alive._, the voice whispered again. He didn't really want to think about that, either. But those dreams where he had seen her… they had been disturbing, to say the least. His mind told him that she would most probably be broken completely but his heart refused to believe it.

Grunting Marcus turned in his bed and starred at the wall. He should have never fallen in love with her, but it was too late now, anyway. He had, and the only thing he regretted was to never have acted on it. And Stars, did he miss her. He missed her voice, her smile, her mismatched eyes, even the way she tucked her hair behind her ears when it was escaping her braid… His grip around one corner of his blanket tightened. This would get him nowhere, but he just couldn't stop. She would be all right. He _needed_ her to be all right. Because with infinite clarity he now knew that a part of him would die as well if she died. And even if her body was intact but _Coreena_ wasn't in it anymore.

**_

* * *

_**

**_Predator_, brig**

Since the last big brawl all of them had been even more subdued than before. To Kesra it seemed as if they had finally all began to resign themselves to their fates. She knew she should be furious or worried or… or just _something_, but she just felt… _relieved_, if anything at all. Other than this fleeting sentiment nothing had remained. She felt herself drifting on and off, not even really sleeping anymore and just picking on the sparse food they got thrown once in a while. To be honest: They all were only vegetating now.

Suddenly the door hissed, and a few of them looked up with mild interest. Which turned to terror when they saw that it was not the usual gray-clad watch officer but a group of storm troopers. And Admiral Chesfer. Kesra felt fear and hate welling up inside, and somehow she was grateful for that. It meant that not all feeling had died inside of her.

And then she felt surprise as she saw a rather short human woman with short blond hair stepping into the prison after the Admiral. _What's_ she _doing here?_, she wondered and took a look at the other prisoners. They seemed to be as surprised and distrustful as her.

"Well, you Rebel scum, get up. We're finally getting rid of you with the help of the good doctor here." Slowly the women got up one by one, and the doctor started examining them, quietly telling an assistant some medical specifics about each prisoner. When she came to Kesra, the Rodian suddenly felt something being slid into one of the pockets of her torn pressure suit and heard Kardian whisper: "Don't look at it until you're in the shuttle." Kardian must have known that Rodians were prone to have excellent hearing, better than any human hearing could ever be, stemming from their centuries of being a civilization of hunters.

When the doctor was done with her examination, she stepped back, and Chesfer signaled the storm troopers to take the prisoners with them. Each of them was taken rudely by one of the armored soldiers and dragged out of the brig. Kesra turned her head and could get a glimpse of Kardian following them before her head was turned to the front roughly by her guard. Whatever this was about, at least it meant getting away from the cell and from Chesfer, and with Kardian in their company it also meant they weren't be going to be hurt again by him. And that couldn't be all bad, now could it?

**_

* * *

_**

**_Liberty_, Lt. Kenzy's quarters**

She groaned. Someone was banging on her door and had woken her up from her sleep. Which was awful since she felt like having slept only minutes before being woken up again. After the whole ordeal with Blenwell she had desperately tried to going back to normal but she had gotten nothing but a sleepless night and the poorest simulator results in her whole history as a pilot. And now that she had finally managed to fall asleep just hours before they were away from Windermere III, someone was _knocking on her door and driving her nuts!_

Groaning again she finally got up and padded towards her door. Racking her hair, she opened the door. And was greeted by a slightly embarrassed looking Blenwell who straightened up just seconds after the door had opened. She cocked an eyebrow. "Yes, Flight officer?"

"We got ordered to be at the briefing room. Marcus told me you weren't answering your comm and wanted me to fetch you. So, here I am, fetching you." She could see he was trying hard to maintain his usual business façade, but in the end was miserably failing. Saron didn't like it, but somehow it hurt seeing Blenwell standing beside him like this. _I'm so sorry, Marten. But I couldn't. I just couldn't._, she thought and wished for the hundredth time there had been any other way.

"Kenzy?" He slightly tilted his head and cocked an eyebrow. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction to see her scatterbrained but failed in the end as she racked her hair again and said: "Right, debriefing. Could you… wait outside until I get dressed?" In the moment she said it the utter absurdity of the whole sentence became clear to her. And to him, apparently. "Lieutenant… Saron… I've seen you naked now quite some times, don't you think…" Saron wasn't in the mood for any arguments now, and she made that clear to him: "Don't start debating this now, Flight officer. Just wait here while I change." And with that she closed the door and started changing into her pressure suit.

And the whole time she could see his the only marginally concealed pain and confusion in his features. It made her hurt herself but she had made her decision and she would stick to that. It wasn't that she didn't… have feelings for him that where more than just lust or the need to feel a body against hers once in a while but she just couldn't bring herself to give in to them, to let him in, let him see her vulnerable and make it easy for him to hurt her.

She snorted. _Who am I trying to kid? He's seen me vulnerable already, and I have given him plenty of opportunities to hurt me up to now._ Saron shook her head. She didn't want to think about this anymore. It had caused her enough grief already, and she needed to have a clear mind for the upcoming battle. She had chosen to close herself off from him, denying him any possibility to see her weak, making it impossible for him to hurt her. _How stupid can one being be? You are hurting already enough,_ because _you are cutting him off from you._, a treacherous voice whispered in the back of her mind, but she wiped it away with a move of her hand. Taking her helmet she went to the door again and stepped out into the corridor.

"Saron, about the thing in the work-out room…"

"Not now, Flight officer. We have a job to do. Concentrate on that, and on nothing else. And that's an order." Hesitating only seconds, he finally said: "Yes, Ma'am.", and silently fell into step with her as they were walking to the briefing room.

* * *

**A/N: **Aaaaand another chapter.Yes, like to torture my characters, I do ;) And it's not over by a long shot, people.

Anyway, just wanted to say that I don't know if I can keep up the pace of one chapter per week because events in real life are starting to change at the pace of... say... lightspeed. My studies are pestering me again, with term papers being due and examns and all that stuff, and there's this election campaign and well... just don't get pissed if there might be a week without a chapter in the next time. I won't forget you, I promise.

And of course, mighty thanks to Bjrn for the cake. I hope, it has a lot of chocolate in it ;)


	29. Chapter Twenty Eight

**Chapter Twenty Eight**

**_Liberty_, pilots' briefing room**

"All right, people. One half of you doesn't have any idea why they are here, am I right?" Nomo Morgan looked around in the pilots' briefing room, first looking at Rannan and Lochlin, than at Lieutenant Te'sillekk from Silver Cat Squadron and Captain Milter form Krayt Dragon Squadron, seeing one confused and one suspicious. She made a mental note to have ask Ensign Ganner what her gut told about that man in particular after the briefing. After the failed hostage taking by Zifra on the _Star Field_ and Ganner's reaction Morgan trusted her judgment nearly completely.

_But now's not the time to think about it._, she scolded herself mentally and went on with the briefing. "Fine. And because of that I'll take the time to introduce myself and the people that came with me. I'm Captain Nomo Morgan, captain of the fighter carrier _Star Field_, and these are Commander Stina T'Inbre, commander of the Y-Wing squadron we are carrying at the moment, and Ensign Kate Ganner, my communications officer. We are here on orders of the High Council to aid you to take out a battle group that has been terrorizing this sector for three years now." She could hear a snort. "Yes, Lieutenant?" Te'sillekk, a Bith, looked at her with his big black eyes and unconcealed disbelief. "A Nebulon-B-frigate and a fighter carrier against a _battle group_? The Council's gone mad, haven't they?" Morgan shot the Bith one of her trademark cold and calculating looks and answered: "As far as I know, you already took out two ships. And we were specifically ordered to get to the leading ship, a VSD called _Predator_, if I'm not mistaken?" She looked at Lochlin who nodded. "The other ships are only a second priority at the moment because the _Predator_ is supposed to carry at least nine Prisoners of War, including Captain Coreena Mallan, commander of Gray Squadron. We are ordered to give the troops the _Star Field_ is carrying instead of a second fighter squadron enough time to board the _Predator_ and get the prisoners out. _This_ is our main objective. Did I make myself clear?" A few nods and murmured "Yes, Ma'am"s were sufficient for her to continue.

"All right then, let me give you the details of the mission. In exactly three standard hours we will reach Windermere III, a garrison planet. There will be two VSDs in the system by the time we arrive, plus the _Predator_, which means that we have to work as fast as possible. Krayt and Silver Cat Squadron will be keeping the _Empire's Pride_ busy…" On the holo of the system that had now come into life behind her, Morgan gestured towards a red blinking dot and 24 green dots were swarming towards it from the dot that represented the _Liberty_. "while Blue Squadron and the _Star Field_ will be taking care of the _Last Judgment_." Another cloud of green dots and the slightly bigger dot labeled _Liberty_ made their way to a second red dot. "And finally, the Diamonds will protect the troop transports deployed by the _Star Field_ while Gray Squadron and the _Liberty_ take on the _Predator_."

Kenzy raised hand, and Morgan nodded towards her. "Yes, Lieutenant?" The woman leaned slightly forward and said: "What about planet side defense?" Morgan nodded. "Good point, Lieutenant. There is a squadron of TIE-fighters stationed on the ground, and a set of two FLAKs. The TIEs will be the main responsibility of Gray Squadron and the _Liberty_ while the FLAKs will be taken care of by a contingent of ground troops from the _Star Field_ and – if possible – a part of the Diamonds. Question answered?" The woman nodded and said "Yes, Ma'am.", but in her eyes Morgan could see the same worry she had. The plan was far from perfect. To be honest: She hated it because of all the flaws and holes in it and the about 100 possibilities for it to fail, but it had been the best she and her team had come up with.

Morgan looked around another time. "Any more questions, people?" As no one raised a hand she clasped her hands behind her back and said: "Good. Now get to your respective fighter bays and prepare yourself and your ships for the attack. Dismissed."

**

* * *

**

**On the way to the Blue Diamond's hangar bay**

"Dammit, Ran, get moving. I'm not going to wait ages here, you know.", Marlin looked at him impatiently and as if she was about to drag him toward the hangar all the way by herself, and he smiled. For someone usually so composed Marlin could be a real pain in the ass when it was about punctuality. He knew she was doing it because he had to give his usual pep talk to his people before the final wait for the battle begun, and instead of arguing further he just fastened his steps.

"Better?", he said and threw one of his boyish grins and Lin. She only grumbled: "Not by much. Someday, you'll brake your own record in taking a hell of a lot of time if you continue walking like an old man." Rannan touched his heart in a mock pretension of being hurt. "You wound me, Lin, really. I'm doing everything to comply to your wished, and how do you thank me for it? With nothing but reproaches." She said nothing, just stuck out her tongue which he answered with ruffling her dark curls. Making a small squealing sound, she tried to escape the ruffling and glared at him. "The only reason I haven't taken any drastic measure against this abuse of my hair is, that I have this helmet in my hand and would probably damage it if I were to use it against your thick skull.", she told him with a dead-serious face. Which only made him laugh harder.

Inwardly he just smiled at this. He loved those times with Marlin, when it were only the two of them. Rannan didn't care who else was seeing them in the corridors and what they were interpreting into the way they acted around each other since _they_ knew it was all happening in a friendship sort of way.

They had arrived at the hangar just in time for them to be the fast ones and waited until their squadron mates were assembled around them. Rannan took a deep breath and then spoke: "All right, you heard Captain Morgan. I know that plan sounds like crap, but believe me: All the other plans we came up with sounded worse. So… don't get scared if the space is swarming with TIEs and you are taken under fire by two FLAKs and a VSD. Just concentrate on protecting those transports. If Morgan gives us orders, we follow them unconditionally. I know I haven't demonstrated much faith in her abilities to command in the time we were stationed aboard the _Star Field_, but I _do_ have it. She may be a lot but she sure is one thing: a hell of a tactical genius. So follow her orders, follow my orders, and don't get blown out of space. And that's an order, too." His people smiled or laughed or threw him mock salutes as they made their way to their fighters, but as Marlin was about to turn towards her fighter he suddenly had a very strange feeling, as if he wouldn't be seeing her again and grabbed her hand out of impulse and said: "Marlin… I…" She looked at him, with one eyebrow cocked, and he felt ashamed of the letting himself act on a stupid fragment of a thought. And instead of what he wanted to say – telling her to be careful, to make sure coming back to him – he just said: "Just… don't do anything stupid. I'd hate it if I had to go looking for a new XO.", and smirked at her. She gave him a half-smile and said: "When have I ever done anything stupid, huh?" Still a little embarrassed he let go of her hand, rubbed his neck and said: "Right. I should have thought of that before." And with that he ruffled her curls again and earned a slap on the arm by her, before they were finally going to their respective fighters.

**

* * *

**

**Gray Squadron's hangar bay**

_All right_, Marten thought, _this is_ really _the last try to get anything out of her. After that you will finally stop yourself getting embarrassed by that woman._ They had been jogging to the hangar bay in complete silence, but just as she was about to climb up the latter to her fighter he seized her hand and turned her around towards him. Before she could say anything, he beat her to it and said: "Whatever you wanted to say, just don't. You had your turn, now I want mine. Don't even _think_ about doing something stupid out there and die just to annoy me. I've said it before and I meant it then as much as I mean it _now_. I want you to come back to the _Liberty_ and _really_ talk out things with me. And I… I…"

Damnit, why couldn't he just say it? Say that he needed her. That he would terribly miss her. That there was _something_ between them, something that went farther then lust or the need to vent off frustration. He wanted her, he needed her, he… loved her. As simple as that. So why couldn't he just say it? She opened her mouth, and this time he didn't cut her short. "Whatever it is, just don't say it. Not now. I've told you before, we got a job to do. But if it's really important for you… we can talk. _After_ the job. I… I promise. Just don't…" And for the first time he saw something he'd never seen before in her eyes. Fear. For of the upcoming battle. Lieutenant Saron Kenzy was genuinely afraid of going into the battle. He could also somehow hear it in her voice, see it in the way she moved her head to avoid his eyes. Maybe it was because he now was so accustomed to her body, her eyes, her voice.

And he felt something he hadn't felt in a long time: The need to protect her and to assure her that everything would be okay in the end. That both of them would get through it all. Instead of that he just let go of her hand and engulfed her in a hug. After an awkward moment where she didn't move at all he suddenly felt her hugging him back, and he felt like a mountain was taken off his chest. Marten had never been good with words, and he was relieved that she got his message anyway.

He loosened the embrace the same moment she let go of him a little and leant his forehead against hers. Neither of them spoke for some moments although both of them made at least three attempts but failed miserably for a loss of words. Then, as he was caressing her cheek with his thumps, she said: "I promise not to die. If you do the same." He grinned and said: "No dying. And that's a promise", and then he just couldn't hold himself back anymore and kissed her, roughly, like always, finally and desperately claiming her as his.

**_

* * *

_**

**_Predator_, isolation cell**

"_You in for a round of story telling?", he asked and grinned at her. She grinned back, trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach. "I'm not much of a storyteller, Lieutenant." Oh dear, was that a pout he made? "Aw, come on. You said you would socialize with the squadron as soon as there was a possibility. Now this_ is _a possibility. So… come on, get out of the fighter and come with me." The Lieutenant grinned again, crawling a little more towards her cockpit on the nose of her fighter. She laughed. "All right, but just for an hour or so." The happiness that lit up the Lieutenant's face took her over, too, and she found herself grinning like a fool when she was climbing down the latter. Just as she set her foot down, the Lieutenant landed beside her. He looked at her, and suddenly the sparkling in his eyes had changed to something… deeper and darker. She felt drawn to him, more than ever before. And before she knew it, she was kissing him, with want and longing… and he was kissing her back. Just as she was about to loosen up the kiss a little she felt the texture of his lips change. Startled she broke the kiss. And looked into the leering face of Admiral Chesfer. A scream broke from her mouth, louder than anything she had heard before. Chesfer's face sneered at her and she just couldn't stop screaming…_

Sweating and panting she woke up. It had been the fifth time in a row she had had a dream like this in the spare times where she actually fall asleep. It would start with her being in some situation with the Lieutenant – _Marcus_, she reminded herself – and it would always end with Marcus suddenly changing into Chesfer or they being attacked and Marcus being shot by Chesfer or taken and tortured before her eyes… Always Marcus, never herself. Cori squeezed her eyes shut tight. Was that her subconscious telling her that she had betrayed him already? That she had already talked under the torture, told Chesfer her greatest weakness?

She shook her head violently. And wished to be able to escape her aching weak body and her broken mind like she had managed to in her last torture session for only some seconds. At some point the pain and the shame and the Ekel at Chesfer – and at herself – had become unbearable and again something inside her had snapped. Suddenly she had felt herself being broken in two. One part of her – the body, that was being raped again and the part of her mind that was destroyed already – had remained on the torture table, screaming and whimpering and wincing under Chesfer's massive body, but another part of her – obviously something that was still deep inside her, protected by a force she didn't know – was standing outside of it all, observing it unbeteiligt. It had scared her, feeling like this, but at the same time she was thankful for not having to feel pain or fear or shame anymore.

The whole moment lasted only seconds but she could still very clearly remember it. And this feeling was all that kept her from crawling back into the farthest corner of her cell when the door suddenly opened and a storm trooper stepped into the room, pointing his blaster towards her. She knew what was to come now. She would be hauled up and dragged to the interrogation chamber and Chesfer would…

"Hello, dear.", a now well known and well hated voice leered at her, and she blinked. No hauling up? "Yes, I know you were looking forward to our next rendezvous as much as me but I have unfortunate news for both of us. I'm very sad to inform you of it but you are to leave us at our next stop." Leave? "It seems someone at Imperial Center thinks you valuable enough to be transferred off this ship and shipped to them. Rise and shine, darling, for our good doctor here will check you through one last time before you will be brought done to Windermere Base with your fellow Rebel scum." Cori blinked again. Imperial Center? Doctor? Fellow Rebels? What was the meaning of that? Was that a new torture method? Giving her hope to finally escape his filthy hands and then crushing them again?

Before her, Chesfer stepped aside and revealed the blond woman she knew as doctor Kardian. Kardian stepped forward and crouched down beside Cori. Her hands propped and prodded and she was throwing med-babble over her shoulder. When she came to examining her ears, Cori she whispered something like "Told you I'd get you outta here. Just trust me." between two bits of med-babble. When the doctor was done, she turned to Chesfer, saying: "Everything's fine according to the circumstances, sir. She's fully capable of being moved." The Admiral nodded and motioned for a storm trooper to come forward. In an instant he dragged Cori to her feet and out of the cell. For a moment she was absolutely sure they would take the usual way to the interrogation chamber, but to her surprise she was taken a wholly different way. Now she was completely confused. The only thing she knew by some strange way she couldn't explain was that she could trust Kardian. For the first time in a long time she prayed. That she would be right and that she would get away from all of this.

* * *

**A/N: **Whoa, I really made it. I kept up my "one chapter per week"-routine even though this week's been hell so far. Sometimes I really wish, days had 42 hours minimum :S 

Anyway, 'nother chapter, 'nother thank you to Bjrn, 'nother week from hell to go...


	30. Chapter Twenty Nine

**Chapter Twenty Nine**

**Shuttle _Iridium_, passenger compartment, in the space between _Predator_ and Windermere III**

It took all Ilara Kardian's force of will not to fiddle as the shuttle left the _Predator_'s shuttle bay. She was sitting directly behind the two pilots – young men fresh from the Academy, never having seen any battle action, as she could gain from their conversation, and she didn't want to raise any suspicions. Behind her the door to the prisoners' compartment was shut, and she wondered if the two prisoners she had given a scalpel and a medical stunner to had already discovered them. On the small monitor to her side it looked as if none of them were moving, but there was one small part of the room that wasn't covered by surveillance, and she hoped Cayr had figured out her hint back in the brig.

Kardian looked up again and concentrated on the view out of the front windows. Windermere III was lying before them, in Space, looking like any other planet of its class, with a few green spots, a few blue spots and a gray spot, which was the Imperial garrison they were heading to. The plant was becoming bigger and filling out more and more of the view ports as they were approaching it. The doctor felt her hands clenching her thighs and forced herself to let them loose again and try to look totally inconspicuous. A little exited at the prospect of doing scientific research but not with the extensive tension she was feeling all inside.

The two pilots were chatting idly and in between giving their arrival data to the control personnel down on the planet as they were passing through the belt of clouds that had passed over the garrison when suddenly all hell broke lose. Screaming and swearing filled the comm channels, and the pilots' easiness had suddenly changed to confusion and hectic action. Kardian herself didn't feel any better, but when she heard the shouted fragment: "Rebel attack! We are being attacked by Rebels!", she acted out of pure instinct.

With her blaster switched to stun she fired at the first pilot, and before the second had fully grasped what was happening, she had him stunned, too. For a second she just starred at them, bewildered, but then she caught herself, and heaved one of the pilots out of his seat, then seizing his head-set. This was the first time ever that she thanked whoever had the idea to have medics be trained in flying at the Academy, as the first thing she did was aborting the landing maneuver. In the general confusion no one seemed to notice it, and she was grateful for that. As she was flying back into space, she released the hold of the door to the back compartment and turned around, saying: "Any of you a pilot? I need someone to help me to fly this thing through a battle."

The women only starred at her. Then, suddenly, the Rodian pointed towards the view port and said: "That's the _Liberty_. I swear it, that's the _Liberty_!", but before anyone could reply, the ship rocked violently. One of the S-foils had taken a serious hit. Another woman – Cayr, Kardian reminded herself – swore and staggered out of the compartment. "We're going to be space dust if we don't start communicating with them soon.", and with that she shoved the Rodian forward and started dragging the pilots out of the cockpit, telling the other women to help her. The Rodian staggered forward and let herself fall into the newly vacated copilot's seat, starring at the controls for a moment and then typing in some commands, while Kardian tried to steer the vessel through the chaos that had ensued in space.

The ship rocked another time, and Kardian swore under her breath. "Someone man the guns, fast!", she shouted, and from the corner of her eyes she could see how the petite woman with the almond-shaped eyes jumped into the seat behind the Rodian and started operating the guns. In that moment she could hear a very agitated Desra Tellik shouting over her head-set. "What the hell is going on with that shuttle? You stupid idiots, you are firing on our own people. Stop that immediately!", but she chose not to reply, and switched the head-set to another frequence.

Meanwhile Cayr, the Cath and the two remaining human women had managed to drag the unconscious pilots into the prisoners' compartment and were hovering in its entrance. The only ones she hadn't seen anything of yet were the Ishi Tip and the human prisoner that had been Chesfer's last victim. Without turning she shouted to Cayr: "Get the Ishi Tip and the human that is missing out of the prisoners' compartment. I'm locking that one so we won't have any unpleasant surprises." The commotion behind her told her that the women were executing her orders, and again she was surprised that they did so. She just hoped they would continue at least until they were aboard one of the Rebel ships.

When Cayr shouted a "Done, doc!" over the battle noise, Kardian punched the button beside her and the door closed. In the moment, the Rodian obviously finally had found a frequency to hail the ship she had identified as _Liberty_ and spoke to them: "_Liberty_ control, this is Flight Officer Devlin. Do you read me? Repeat: do you read me?", but she was answered with nothing but static hissing. Letting out a stream of her own language – most probably swearing – she tried another one. "Gray Leader, this is Devlin. Gray Leader, do you copy?", and at first there was only static again, but suddenly the comm crackled to life. "Devlin? _Gray Eleven_? Where in the Jedi's name are you?"

"_Lambda_-class shuttle with Imperial insignia, sir. Name is… what's its name, doctor?" She turned to face Kardian, who absentmindedly replied with: "_Iridium_.", which Devlin gave to Gray Leader, whoever that was. The reply came promptly. "All right, I got you, Eleven. Marked you with a green dot, so no-one will attack you."

"Thank you, sir. We… uh… we're in a kinda hot zone here. We really could need some company. And we need someone to contact _Liberty_ for us." The male pilot on the other side agreed: "Will send Twelve and Seven your way, Eleven. But who in all Stars is "we"?" Devlin looked towards Kardian, and she needed a second or two to realize that the Rodian was waiting for her permission. She just nodded and said: "Go ahead, tell him." Devlin turned back to the view port, saying: "Me, an Imperial medical officer and eight other prisoners, all female. And sir… we got Leader among us." The last one she added just out of instinct because she was pretty sure that Marcus needed to know that bit of information. But she was surprised about the reaction, as for several seconds the other side was completely silent. Just before she could ask if everything was okay, his reply finally came, if sounding a bit strained: "Happy to hear that, Eleven. Will tell _Liberty_ control to hail you. Twelve and Seven are on their way to you, keep a frequency open for them. Gray Leader out." With that two X-Wings swung in on either side of the shuttle, and for the first time Kesra allowed herself to smile and said to Kardian: "The cavalry finally arrived."

**

* * *

**

**Sky above Windermere III**

"Biniir Eight, break hard to port, you got one on your tail!"

"Negative, Leader, I needa take out that cannon!"

"Damnit Eight, that's the last time I save your sorry ass!"

Rannan grumbled and dodged a missile and broke to port himself. He hated flying in atmosphere, and he was sure that if Steva – Biniier Eight – _did_ make it out of this alive, the boy would get the most serious dressing down _ever_. They had to protect the transport, not to take on the garrison's defense.

Marlin was coming back from saving Steva and hailing him: "We gotta go back in space, but we're trapped down here. Those TIEs they deployed from the base are taking up all our efforts. We need reinforcements, Leader." Rannan prepared himself for a run on the second FLAK while answering: "Negative. We won't get any, so we won't ask for them. Two, Five, Four, form up behind me, we're gone have a look at that FLAK at nine o'clock. Five, you're helping me with the FLAK, Two and Four, you are our back-up. Now, go!"

A blinking light on the outer perimeters of his vision caught his attention, but he decided to ignore it. They were in the crucial phase of approaching the FLAK, no one of them could spare the concentration to listen to anyone at the moment. All right, so no one expect Marlin. "Leader, _Star Field_ control wants us to abort. They say, the package is on board the _Liberty_ already." Rannan flew towards the FLAK, trying to dodge the shots aimed at him. "Did you tell them that we are trapped down here?" Marlin confirmed it. "Yes. They told us they'd send down someone from Gray Squadron. They said… Damnit!" Marlin was swearing. Marlin _never_ swore. He looked at his HUD. Her fighter was doing strange movements. "Two, what the…"

"Lost my starboard engine. No, correction, lost both engines."

"Biniir Leader, this is Gray Eight. We're here to escort you back to the _Liberty_. Follow our lead." At first Rannan didn't register one word from the Gray pilot. He didn't register that Harvey and Mayn had disabled the FLAK, either. He didn't register _anything_ because his gaze seemed to transfixed on Marlin's fighter that was spiraling down towards the planet's surface. "Going out with a bang, Leader.", came over the radio, and he saw her canopy being blown off and a small figure on an ejection seat going out and sinking towards the planet, and he felt his own ship rocking under an impact, but all he could do was stare at the point were Marlin had protruded the forest.

"Biniir Leader, do you copy? We need your confirmation for aborting the mission.", another voice came over comm. "Biniir Leader, we – are – aborting – the – mission. Do. You. Copy?" His fighter shook another time, more violently now. It somehow broke up his reverie, and he answered the Gray pilot: "No, we are not leaving. We have a pilot down, we…"

"Sir… Two is… I… I don't get any life signs from her, sir.", Reslin's voice cut in. A TIE was zooming towards him, and he was finishing it off, almost mechanically. "There must be a system failure in your sensors." Logically he knew that he was talking nonsense. Reslin's sensor packs were the most modified and the best maintained in the whole fleet. But something inside him absolutely refused to believe that Marlin could be anything else than living. "Make a second sweep, Seven. She has to be alive." For a second there was only static hissing, then: "I… I'm sorry, sir, but I… there's no way that she's still… Sir, we… we need to go…"

"Biniir Leader, you are aborting the mission. _Now_. Anything else will get you kicked out Starfighter Command ASAP. Did I make myself clear?" There was something in Nomo Morgan's voice that you just couldn't ignore. Even when your XO and best friend had crash landed on a planet and was most presumably dead and you couldn't even retrieve her body. And so he finally obeyed. "Yes, Ma'am. Biniir Squadron, we are aborting the attack. Everybody return to _Liberty_.", he said, and suddenly he felt older and more tired than any man could ever be.

**_

* * *

_**

**_Liberty_, sick bay**

He knew he shouldn't be here. He knew he should be sitting around on one of the cots and have the burns on his hands bandaged. But he didn't even feel the burns. The only thing Marcus could think about what that Coreena was on board the _Liberty_, even in the operations room right before his eyes, but she was so far away that she could still be in Imperial captivity, as far as he knew. He was standing outside of the OP, looking through the view port, not registering anything of what was going on around him.

"Lieutenant?" He didn't react, his gaze still transfixed on the scene in the room before him. "Lieutenant, you are the next one." No reaction, still looking through the view port. Then, suddenly, he felt someone tuck on his flight suit and he whirled around to face one of the medics. "What?", he asked more gruff the appropriate, but only got a "Lieutenant, you are the next one to be fixed up again. If you'd come over here…" The medic, a young male Twi'Lek, led him over to one of the cots and started bandaging the burns Marcus had received when one of the shots aimed at his ship had fried his electronics, but all he could do was continuing to stare at the OP. "She'll be in there for at least another two hours. And then she'll have at least another hour of bacta time. But we can call you when they are done if you want to.", the medic said quietly. Marcus blinked, and then answered: "What? No, no, thanks, I'll… stay here." The medic shrugged. And then, as if on cue, his comm beeped. He tore it out of his jacket and said a bit too agitated: "Yes?"

"Watch your tone, Lieutenant. And come to the briefing room ASAP. Bring your XO with you. Morgan out." She didn't sound as if there was any sense in arguing. "Sir… I'm done here. You can go now. And we can still…"

"Call me, I know. All right, I don't think the Captain would tolerate any delay. When… when they are done in there, please give me a ring. I want to be there when she wakes up." The Twi'Lek just nodded, and Marcus dragged himself up for his way to the briefing room.

**

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**

**Fighter hangar**

As Saron was exiting her fighter, she sighed a little. She should have known he'd be there, but somehow she had hoped he would give her a little more time. But he was there, and so obviously they had to do the big talk now. When she was on the ground, she opened her mouth and said: "Blenwell, I…", but she didn't get to finish it as he was engulfing her in a bear hug. He said nothing, just nuzzled the tender spot in the crook of her neck. At first she felt awkward but then she understood that Blenwell often didn't know how to express things with words, and that this obviously meant he was relieved to have her back. And if she was honest to herself then she knew she was as relieved as him, and so she finally hugged him back with all her force.

When he let go of her she detangled herself from him, and he put his forehead against hers, but before he could say something she beat him to it: "I know you want to talk But I'm tired, Marten, so tired. I just… I want nothing more than sleep." Instead of throwing a fit or answering something sarcastic or anything like that he smiled and just said: "You said it." She took a small step back and asked with a frown: "What?" He grinned. "Marten. You called me by my first name. You've gotten soft, Lieutenant." She snorted, secretly happy that the for the first time there was no negative tension between them. "Only in your dreams, _Flight Officer_.", and she started walking towards her quarters. "Oh, you have _no_ idea what I'm dreaming about." Just some days ago she would have given him a cold stare and maybe a slap for the grin that accompanied the remark and what he was suggesting with it, but now she just said: "Not now, Blenwell. I _am_ tired."

He stopped, in the middle of the corridor. "I know, Saron. And I wasn't hinting at what you thought, I just…"

"It's okay, really. I wasn't accusing you or anything. I…" A yawn escaped her mouth, and she ran a hand over her face. And then her comm beeped. "Damnit.", she murmured, but tried to keep her voice level as she answered: "Yes?"

"Morgan wants us at the briefing room. _Now_. So I suggest you get your ass there." It was obvious that Marcus was in no mood to be contradicted, but before she could say anything, Blenwell had snatched the comm from her hands. "She's going nowhere but her bed, Lochlin. Morgan has to be satisfied with me in her place. Blenwell out." And with that he turned the comm off and handed it back to Saron. For a second she was speechless, but then she was back with a vengeance. "How _could_ you? I won't be patronized by _anyone_, least by my wing-man. Whom I outrank. This was insubordination, I'll…"

"Go to bed now. Quite frankly, _Lieutenant_, I don't care about the regs right now. But I… I… care about _you_." She looked at him with suddenly very big eyes, and he looked like all he wanted to do now was swallowing his tongue. All right, so obviously no one of them had expected _this_. He opened his mouth, but just ended up shrugging and looking at her with a face that said: "All right, so now you know. It's up to you, now.", and all _she_ could do was say: "Right… I'll… I'll got to bed now. Try… try not to annoy too much people at the debriefing.", and with that she walked off towards her quarters. He just groaned and kicked at the corridors walls before stalking off to the briefing room.

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**A/N: **Sorry I took my time with this chapter but there was a lot to do this time, and more importantly I had to go to bed pretty early (early for _me_, that is) which meant I didn't have enough time to write. But hey, I still managed it. I'm so good :D

Anyway, thanks to Bjrn for still reviewing and staying with the story :)


	31. Chapter Thirty

**Chapter Thirty**

**_Liberty_, brig**

"Well… time to say good-bye, Gatton.", Nomo Morgan told Zifra who was just starring a kind of malicious towards her as his hands were bound into cuffs by a guard, and he was led away. He would be sent to the temporary head quarters of the Council for a court-martial, and the _Star Field_ was the ship assigned to bring him there. Morgan hadn't exactly been jumping for joy at reading the order but she understood their necessity. With the _Predator_ still intact and Chesfer still alive it was quite possible that there would be at least tries to bring Zifra into the hands of the Imperials, if only to execute him as they saw fit. But he was still under the jurisdiction of the Rebels, and they knew that giving him a fair trial was what separated them from the Imperials, if nothing else. And so putting him a shuttle and sending him to the Council this way was absolutely no option. And since the _Star Field_ was in the vicinity and scheduled for meeting up with the Council and getting a new squadron on board anyway, they were really the best choice.

When Zifra and his guard had left the brig, Morgan and Ensign Ganner joined them. The young woman had finally stopped throwing occasional glances of wariness and insecurity towards Morgan and had settled in with being Morgan's new personal assistant. After evaluating Ganner's performance in the last days and her role in arresting Zifra in the end, Morgan had come to conclusion that the young ensign was worth a lot more than could be seen on the surface and so had decided to take her further training in her own hands. The ensign had remarkable gut feelings, and Morgan knew with certainty that if encouraged and trained adequately Ganner could be an officer with the capability to lead a war ship on her own sometime. Captain Morgan herself had to put up with a lot because of her being a woman under Palpatine, and she fully intended to not let that happen to any other young and promising yet a little shy female officer under her command.

They had reached the shuttle that would them bring to the _Star Field_, and standing at the ramp was none other that Lieutenant Commander Imes, now temporary captain of the _Liberty_. She nodded at Morgan, as they were approaching. "Ma'am." Morgan gestured to the guard and Ganner to bring the prisoner inside and went over to Imes. "What can I do for you, Commander?" Imes cleared her throat. "I just wanted to thank you for believing me when I said I was innocent. And for trusting me enough to make me temporary captain of the _Liberty_. Well, and in the name of the crew I want to thank you for getting us out of trouble as good as possible. Because of Zifra there are a lot of people lacking real combat experience – myself included – that weren't ready for engaging several VSDs _and_ planetary defense." Morgan allowed herself a small smile. "Commander, don't sell yourself short. Considering how Zifra must have trained you and the crew for combat situations you all did very well. I was impressed by your leadership qualities and your ability to keep calm even in difficult situations. I will put in a recommendation for you." She could see Imes' face coloring all over and smiled inwardly, as the Lieutenant Commander cleared her throat and tried to answer her without stuttering: "Thank… thank you, Ma'am. And now… bring him off the ship. We had enough trouble here." Morgan nodded. "Right. Farewell, Commander, and good hunting." Imes saluted her, and Morgan returned it. Then she walked up the ramp and finally got inside.

She settled in next to Ganner, and watched the shuttle take off and fly towards the _Star Field_. They had had surprisingly few casualties in the whole affair, and Morgan was grateful for that. Just for once something had worked almost the way it should have.

**

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**

**Pilots' lounge**

As Marcus entered the deserted pilots' lounge, he was about to switch on the light, but when he saw a lone figure sitting in one of the seats at the window he stopped himself and walked over, not without tripping over some empty bottle that was a left-over of the victory celebration from an hour ago. His subdued cussing rang through the almost empty room and seemed a little too loud for his ears.

"Can't you go somewhere else to do your celebrating, Lochlin?", the figure suddenly asked and thus exposed himself as Tom Rannan. The bitterness in his voice startled Marcus, and instead of backing off quickly like his instincts told him he walked over to the other man and set down in the opposite seat, leaning back. "Whoever said I was celebrating?" Rannan didn't look at him, and Marcus was grateful for that. Judging from the tone of his voice, he would be dead instaneously if looks could kill. "Your precious captain's back. Now isn't that a reason to celebrate or what?" Rannan's voice was dripping with acid, but Marcus just couldn't leave now. "She's in sick-bay right now. In surgery, to be precise. They are patching up what's left right now, and they should have been done with it at least two hours ago. I don't see any reason to celebrate. And she's _not_ "my" captain. Now why are you skulking around here in the dark?"

The dark gleam in Rannan's eyes should have tipped him off, but Marcus just didn't pay attention to it. Which was a grave mistake, since Rannan jumped up and grabbed Marcus by his collar, pressing him into the seat, and telling him in a dead-serious voice: "Exactly four hours and thirty-four minutes ago my XO, best friend and basically other half was left behind on a planet full of Imps just waiting to get their hands on one of us. I have _every_ right to be "skulking around in the dark"." Slowly, Marcus put his hands up and said: "All right, cool down, I just… I'm sorry about what happened to Rua… I… just didn't think…"

Rannan let go of him and let himself fall back into his chair. "That's right. You didn't think." They lapsed into silence until – suddenly – Rannan spoke up again. "I… shouldn't have told her to be careful." Marcus just raised an eyebrow. "I just have the feeling, that it… somehow brought the bad luck." His opposite just snorted incredulously. "I've heard you talking sithspit before, but this just tops it all. Who would have thought big bad brawling Tom Rannan superstitious to no end?" For a moment Rannan seemed to be jumping at him again but obviously thought better of it. Again it was quiet for some time. Just as Marcus was about to get up and go to sick-bay, Rannan spoke up again. "I never thought it would be true, but it is. "You don't know what you got until you gotta say good-bye" is true down to the last syllable. I never thought… I never thought I was going to lose her someday. She just… from the moment on we met she was just… _there_. And now she's gone, and I… I…"

Marcus knew that tone of voice. It was the tone of someone who was going to fall apart any minute. He just never expected it from a guy like Rannan. And he knew that if Rannan _was_ going to fall apart in front of him, both of them would never forgive the other for letting it happen. So he did the only thing seeming appropriate at the time. "You know… Lieutenant Rua would never want you to wallow in self-pity and have you brooding in the dark pilots' lounge. She would want you to bloody buck up and keep your squadron in shape for the next battle." And with that he finally went up and left for sick-bay, before Rannan could say anything. Surprised the big man looked up and the only thought coming to his mind was _So I made a Diamond out of him after all._

**_

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_**

**_Predator_, Adm. Chesfer's office**

_You are a disgrace to the Imperial Fleet. The Emperor hereby demotes you to the rank of Lieutenant and dismisses you from your post on the VSD _Predator_. You are to return to Imperial Center ASAP for further investigation of the defeat at Windermere III and the following loss of an important Rebel contact. Disobeyance of this order will result in immediate disintegration._

Chesfer put away the communiqué and started starring off into space again. There were only three things circling his mind: "Disgrace", "demotion" and "immediate disintegration". Then, suddenly, a wail escaped his throat, and in one swift motion he swept everything off of his desk. _One stupid medic._, he thought. _It takes one stupid medic to ruin the career and the life of one man. And a _woman _medic at that._ But he wouldn't let himself being ruined by that woman. Oh no, he would take as much people down with him as he could. And then he would ascent again with the help of their backs.

And the first one to go down and help him up again would be his flag ship's captain. Yes, Chesfer would take part in the investigation, and he would have just the right name and the right story for the commission. With a dangerously calm manor he started to answer the communiqué and started to organize his way to Imperial Center.

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**A/N: **Alright... this is the pre-last chapter, I think. You know, just tying up lose ends. I'm already thinking about one or more sequels, spin-offs... tell me what you think and whom you maybe want to see again, 'kay?  



	32. Chapter Thirty One

**Chapter Thirty One**

**_Liberty_, sick-bay**

All in all he had waited five hours for the medics to finish Coreena's surgery and bacta treatment, and he hadn't eaten anything in the five hours nor had he slept or even dosed off. Marcus had been way too worried for the outcome to do anything else than sit around and stare at the surgery room's door or prowling the _Liberty_'s corridors. And now he was back again, and everything was done and he was standing right in front of the window showing the recovery room. She should be waking up any minute, the medics had told him, and he was impatiently waiting just for that moment. Granted, he wished to be _in_ the room when she was there, but the ship's counselor and the medics had advised against it, and so he was contend with at least being able to look at her when she awoke.

He continued starring into the room, and suddenly something stirred under the covers of the only bed in the room. A monitor to his side showed her face, and he could see the eyes in her pale and bony face cracking open very slowly. For a moment, there was just confusion on her face, but then she slowly turned her head and her eyes widened and the expression on her face changed from confusion to downright terror. She sat bold upright and starred around wildly in the room. And then the screaming started. It was so loud that he could hear it through the thick isolating window, and his first reaction was bolting to the door and trying to get inside the room, but he was held back by one of the medics that had been observing her as well. "Don't go in there, Lieutenant. We will handle the situation. You would it only make worse.", and then two female medics went into the room, but were beat to it by him, rushing inside and at Coreena's side faster than anyone had expected him to. In an instant he had her in his arms, and suddenly she was very, very quiet. The silence that suddenly ensued was as deafening as the screams from before had been.

Two wide mismatched eyes were starring at him, and for a fleeting second something like recognizing him flared up, but then suddenly she was screaming again and desperately trying to escape him. Feeling more helpless than ever before he releases as quickly as he could and walked to door kind of dazed. Before he finally exited the room he turned around another time, and saw her being comforted by two female medics, all the time avoiding eye-contact with him. Everything inside of him went kind of numb, and feeling haggard, he finally turned around and left the room. This was not absolutely not how he had envisioned her coming home again.

**

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**

**Brig**

"Look, you've checked me for hidden tracking devices at least ten times now, have looked at places of my body I didn't even I had and have asked me the same questions twenty times at least. _Each_ of them. Don't you think it's time you give yourself a break here?"

The security officer, a Lieutenant by the name of Galenus only glared at her, shuffling around his data cards. "We will search and ask you as long and as much as we want. You came here under very strange circumstances, and we have to be _extra _cautious now that… never mind." Galenus almost bit his tongue. He wasn't to tell the prisoner anything about the ship or their situation or just everything that had to do with the Alliance. If he couldn't learn to shut his trap in the right moment, it was no wonder he just wasn't promoted.

He looked at the prisoner, a blonde woman in her early thirties who claimed to having been CMO aboard the _Predator_, again, and saw her only raise an eyebrow at him. "Well… all right. I gotta go give my superiors a summary. I'll be back in one or two hours, most probably with a more definite answer as what we're about to do with you." And with that the security officer left the brig, leaving behind only a guard by the door. For a moment Kardian played with the idea of intimidating the guard a bit, just for the fun of it, but then the fatigue that had been simmering at the edge of her consciousness slowly started to set in and she set down on her cot, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.

At some point she must have drifted into sleep, because the next thing she knew was that someone was shaking her gently and asking her to wake up. Drowsily she cracked her eyes open, but was fully alert when she saw the security officer standing before her again. He was accompanied by two other male humans in the same uniform and a male Mon Calamari and a female human in what looked like the Alliance equivalent of med-service scrubs. Trying to look dignified, she stood up, smoothed out her wrinkled and worn Imperial uniform and made a brave face.

The security officer cleared his throat and spoke up, sounding somewhat ceremonial: "Imperial Lieutenant Dr. Ilara Kardian, you have been cleared for service within the fleet of the Alliance. If you wish to sign up, you will be commissioned as a Commander in the Medical Service as soon as you accept." He was finished, and everyone was starring at her. For a moment she couldn't quite grasp what was happening, but then the impact came full force. They were offering her a future. They were accepting her, despite her Imperial history, and they were even promoting her. Now it was on her to clear her throat. With half-smile, she finally said: "Well… then the prodding and prying was good for _some_thing at least. Yes, I'd love to serve in the Medical Service. Where can I sign up?" Was that twitching of the Mon Calamari's mouth tentacles the equivalent to a human smile? It had to be, since he answered in a deep and guttural voice: "And we would be happy to have you with us. We are at war, and in war there can't be enough medics on a ship. I'm sure we will find an adequate posting for you once all the formalities are over."

And with that she was released from the brig and handed over to the medics who were taking her into their midst and taking her to her new quarters. Somewhere deep in the back of her mind she knew that with the _Predator_ and Chesfer and Tellik having survived there most probably was no place in the galaxy where she was a hundred percent save, but just right now she didn't care. Here were people who obviously knew to appreciate her skills and her eagerness to work and her final refusal to continue with the inhumane and unethical practice of the Imperial Medical Service, and just here and know she would only be found enjoying what she had.

**

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**

**Work-out room**

And so they were back to where it all had started. The work-out room. Where they had fought and enjoyed their first casual steps towards each other and had made love. And now it would be the place where she ultimately broke his and her heart. But he didn't know that yet. At the moment he was just looking expectantly at her, his usual cool demeanor just being a superficial concealment of the anxiety he felt underneath. She maybe couldn't his read thoughts but she well damn knew how to read his body. The slight tapping of his foot, the twitching of his right index finger, the casual shifting of his stance now and then… they were all giving away his nervousness and his insecurity.

If she was honest, her heart was already showing cracks, just because of the sight of this. Back in the corridor, when he had been sending her to bed and had gone to the debriefing in her stead, he had practically declared his undying love for her – well, for someone like him, saying "I care about you.", meant nothing more – and here she was, about to shatter it all. She took a deep breath, clearing her throat, and he said: "Well?"

She made another attempt, determined not to let herself being talked out of it, and with a wavering in her voice for which she resented herself deeply, she said: "Marten, I… This is not… easy for me but I… I… think we should… stop this. I don't… you… deserve someone else. I'm just… I can't go on with this." Disbelief was clouding his eyes, and just gave the knife already being stuck in her heart another twist. "I don't… what the hell are you trying to say?" She looked away, unable to continue seeing his eyes. "I'm saying that I can't do this anymore. We are both soldiers, Marten, we are bound to die sooner or later. Well, more likely sooner than later. And I… I sometimes have the feelings that I'm only bringing death or hurt to the people close to me. I just… don't want that to happen to you. Besides, it's reflecting on our performances and on our interaction with the rest of the squadron. If we continue, nothing good will come out of it. I'm… sorry, but I just can't."

After that there was only silence. For what seemed like an eternity he was just staring at her, saying nothing. The longer as the silence grew the more she felt a kind of tension rising up in the room she absolutely didn't like.

"So in the end the great Emperor-may-care Kenzy is a trembling little coward underneath all that glitter?", came suddenly the taunting reply from him, and she felt like being hit physically. _Not different them him, most probably._, something whispered in the back of her mind, but she chose to ignore it. She wasn't having second thoughts, she was going to end this. "If you want to see it this way, then feel free to do it. This is none of my business. But I wish you would at least _try_ to understand my reasons instead of jumping at my throat in the next best moment.", she said, defiantly raising her chin. "Your reasons are worth _sithspit_, Kenzy! Don't tell me this was just a little fling for you. I've seen you, felt you, been inside of you, I _know_, you aren't as indifferent as you claim."

"I never said , I was indifferent. I just said, I couldn't go on with it because I didn't want you to get too close to me. Having someone close means being easy to hurt and I'm sick of getting hurt and…" In an instant she realized her mistake and shut up. Without intending to, she had told him one of her deepest fears, and suddenly she felt like the last idiot. She had practically given him her heart on a silver platter, and now her biggest fear was that he would do the same with her heart as she had done with his heart: crush it under the heel of his boots. But he was silent again. Then, coming nearer her, he tried to reach out to her and stroke her cheek, but she turned her head away. She knew, if she let him touch her now, she would never get out of this while she still could. "No, Marten…" And then her voice broke, and her eyes watered but she forced herself to carry out her mission like the good, little soldier she had always been. "I just can't. I'm sorry. But you don't deserve someone like me. You deserve someone who can give you what you need, and who isn't afraid of letting someone close. Someone who won't break your heart because she can't stand the thought of losing you in battle and who doesn't close herself off from you because of that fear. I've… got to go. I requested getting Devil back as my wing-man, and as soon as her flight status is cleared, she'll be back. Please try to understand. I just… I'm so sorry."

And with that she took a step backwards, and looked into his eyes, and her heart shattered into a thousand pieces as she saw his eyes when her words hit home, but she forced herself to turn around and walk away. The tears in her eyes stung but she didn't shed a single one. Not when she was walking out on him, nor when she walked through the corridors to her quarters, not when she lied down on her cot, staring off into nothingness, feeling her insides slowly going numb.

For a while she just continued lying and staring, being in some kind of shock, when suddenly she felt herself being overcome by nausea. Awaking from her stupor, she jumped up, sprinting to the bath rooms, while all the time trying to hold it down. In the end she arrived at the bath rooms just in time, throwing up into the next washstand. When it was over, she rinsed her mouth clean and leaned heavily on the rims of the basin, staring at her reflection in the mirror. Yeah, she really was revolting, even to herself. With a bitter laugh, she finally went back to her quarters, hoping that eventually the turmoil in her head and in her stomach would settle down and she would be her old self again.

**

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**

**Lt. Lochlin's quarters**

It had been two days now since the fiasco in sick-bay, and he still hadn't fully been able to process everything. For the last two days, he had been standing a bit besides himself, attending to a million briefings but each of them only marginally registering in his mind. Most of the time he had put up his "dutiful officer"-face but inside he hadn't been on the job. He had found himself drifting back to that look of realization followed by a look of absolute horror in her eyes when he had held her, and it seemed that this look was haunting him even into his dreams. He had the horrible feeling that it all was his fault, and he yearned to speak to her, explain to her that he never intended to hurt her, apologize for being so rash, but they didn't even let him into sick-bay anymore.

And now he had this communiqué lying before him that told him that from tomorrow morning on he would be not only temporary but permanent commander of Gray Squadron because the former commander, Captain Coreena Nunavut Mallan, had been rendered unfit to fly for an indefinite amount of time and was handing back her commission and resigning from service within Starfighter Command and traveling to the site of her permanent retirement on the fighter carrier _Star Field_ by the time of this evening.

His eyes had read the text, but it hadn't quite registered in his brain yet. Technically he knew that they would most probably be bringing her to a safe planet where she would stay for the rest of her life, and that he would see her never again, but he still couldn't quite grasp everything.

Suddenly a message appeared on his data pad, and he opened it absent-mindedly, but being all alert when he saw the sender. _Coreena Mallan. _Anxiously he taped down until the text came and started to read:

_Marcus,_

_by the time you read this I will be flying over to the_ Star Field, _being a civilian, and on my way to what will be my home for the rest of my life most probably. I hope, you understand that I have to do this. I'm not a pilot anymore, and I don't know if I'm_ me _anymore. You've seen it yourself, I'm unstable, and not able to stay in a room with a man for more than seconds without freaking out completely. There's not much left of me, and I need space to save the last bits that are still there. Please don't come looking for me once I'm gone. You have a duty to fulfill, and you will do it. Consider this my last order, if you like. Or the urgent request of someone desperately needing to be away from everything that has to do with ships and uniforms and soldiers. It's your choice, only please comply with the request. I wish we could have had something different, but we weren't meant to. Goodbye, Marcus, you were what helped me through it all in the end. I wish you luck and good hunting._

_Coreena_

Suddenly his view was strangely blurred and with mild surprise he realized that he was crying. Almost angrily he wiped away the tears and read the letter again. It were two things that got stuck in his head. One was the sentence "You were what helped me through it all in the end.", because for some reason it made his heart miss a beat and feel giddy all inside.

And the other was her plead to never try to find her and carry on his duty as a pilot. He decided taking it as an order from her, at least momentarily helping him over the strange mass of feelings that started to create itself in the pit of his stomach. Right. He had a duty. He was a full-fledged squadron commander now. The commander of a squadron that would go hunting now. And it would be a good hunt, because they would be hunting the man that had caused them all this grief.

Filled with a kind of grim determination he stood up again and headed for the briefing room to meet his squadron there. There was a lot to brief them about. And when the briefing was done… the hunting season would be opened.

**THE END **

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**A/N: **Whoa... I've been working for _years_ on this story, and now that I'm done I do feel regrets that it's over. But I'm also quite pleased with myself. And I've got a question: What about sequels/spin-offs? I've got a few good ideas in the back of my mind and on my hard-drive already, who want to be published as well. Anyone interested? 

All right, so I'll write and publish them anyway, but I'd still love to have some feedback on this one.

Oh, and please don't get confused when the story comes up again some times, because I'll finally be doing some glitch fixing.


End file.
